Phantom Pain
by Panthers Midnight Lair
Summary: Daniel is taken hostage and the team has to save him.  Will a familiar enemy with a new face leave him stranded?


Phantom Pain  
Season: 8  
Rating: R  
Category: H/C, Drama  
Pairing: Jack/Daniel  
Minor Spoilers: Need, Lockdown, New Order, Enemy Mine  
Warning: Language, Danny Whumping

_Disclaimer: The Stargate universe and its inhabitants are the sole property of MGM. I don't own them I just like to play with them._

Daniel is taken hostage and the team has to save him. Will a familiar enemy with a new face leave him stranded?

Daniel rolled slowly onto his back as he floated in a groggy haze between consciousness and peaceful oblivion. Everything hurt. The realization that it was a familiar pain lured him from unconsciousness, taunting him with the mystery. It wasn't a hand device because his head didn't hurt any more than the rest of him. It didn't hurt any less, either. It wasn't a staff blast because it hurt literally everywhere. Assuming he survived such a thing the pain would have been a bit more localized. That left only one culprit: a zat.

His brain was just beginning to pick up speed, considering the unpredictable effects of a weapon that could rattle his teeth on one occasion and knock him out cold the next when he suddenly realized that the fact he'd been hit with the thing in the first place probably took priority. Slowly blinking at the ceiling overhead he tried to piece together what had happened. The dark interior with liberally scattered gold highlights that surrounded him served to jog his memory. They'd been attacked by a goa'uld.

Perfect. Just perfect.

He had been on a quiet archaeological mission; pouring over ancient goa'uld inscriptions in an abandoned temple on a deserted planet. SG-14 had been providing back-up. At the time Daniel had thought Jack was being incredibly over protective by insisting on a four-man security detail, not to mention continually grumbling about the fact that goa'uld writings typically came with goa'uld and that the whole thing was a bad idea. Daniel had argued his case until Jack had finally relented out of sheer frustration with the topic. Daniel hadn't protested much about the security detail because he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He had what he wanted. If Jack wanted to tie up a team on a completely unnecessary babysitting mission then so be it. However, now that he lay blinking up at the ceiling of his holding cell Daniel realized he owed the newly minted General O'Neill a big, fat apology.

The attack had come out of nowhere. That much Daniel remembered. He'd been standing in a dark corner, squinting at the engravings on the wall when the sound of weapons fire had jerked his attention away from the translation. He'd crept to the door to find the place swarming with Jaffa and SG-14 severely out numbered. He didn't remember much after that, including being hit with the zat.

Daniel slowly got to his feet, the room dipping and spinning around him, his body whining in protest as he gingerly stretched aching muscles. A hesitant touch to a tender spot on his forehead revealed a bleeding gash that would no doubt form a nice lump in the near future. He glanced around the room without expecting to see anything of importance. Since one mother ship looked pretty much like the rest there was no telling who had taken them hostage.

He was assuming SG-14 had been taken captive with him despite the fact that he was alone in his cell. It made no sense that the goa'uld would capture him and leave the others. Actually, it didn't make a whole lot of sense that the goa'uld would capture them, period, but there was really no telling with them. Most of the time they didn't make a whole lot of sense. Greed, blind ambition, and an over inflated view of one's own importance didn't often make for rational thinking.

It felt like hours later when the familiar sound of metal on metal came echoing down the hall. The cacophony of Jaffa in motion was as recognizable as the clanking and electronic whining of a host of replicators, either of which could instantly tie Daniel's stomach in knots. As he lifted his head from his hands and got to his feet again, he braced himself for what was to come.

Daniel allowed himself to be hustled from the cell without a word. There was no point making small talk with the Jaffa. They wouldn't tell him anything anyway. The markings on their foreheads might have, but Daniel didn't recognize the symbols of most of them. What he did recognize was that the troops were mainly those of a single system lord with scatterings of those captured from various other goa'uld. Whoever this was they had managed to not only maintain their power, but had taken down a few competitors. That certainly narrowed the options. Most system lords were hemorrhaging followers lately, not acquiring them.

Daniel was marched into a large room and forced to his knees in front of a typically adorned throne, apprehension bubbling inside. He watched with rapt attention as a woman dressed in flowing robes and ornate jewelry came striding into the room with the narcissistic air he'd come to expect from system lords. The creature that followed behind her, however, took Daniel completely by surprise. His first instinct was to jump to his feet, but the Jaffa at his side held him to the floor with a crushing grip on his shoulder.

The Kull warrior, a member of Anubis' clan of indestructible troops, came striding into the room behind the woman and took up residence at her side. Daniel swallowed, his pulse kicking up a notch. He had no idea what the woman had in mind, but the fact that she had control of at least one of Anubis' soldiers didn't bode well.

"This is the infamous Doctor Daniel Jackson." The woman said, raking her eyes over him. "We had expected something more…impressive."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Daniel replied, hostility thinly veiled in his tone. "Feel free to let me go."

"Tau'ri insolence." She spat, curling her upper lip over her teeth in a sneer. "Such arrogance from an insignificant insect."

"It would be unwise to underestimate this particular insect, my Queen." The Kull warrior stated, Daniel's gaze immediately flitting to him.

As impossible as it seemed there was something in that voice that he recognized. Having never heard a Kull speak before he had no idea why that would be. In fact, he'd been under the impression they were unable to speak at all.

"As you have said." She sighed. "Tell us, Daniel Jackson, is a creature such as you worthy of the price on your head?"

"Price?"

"Weapons technology of the Ancients to anyone that captures you…alive, of course." She said.

"I certainly prefer that option…I suppose." Daniel replied, his mind spinning.

Years ago he and the rest of SG-1 had been informed that they had "most wanted" posters hanging in the goa'uld post office, but from what he remembered the price hadn't been nearly as high. Apparently things had changed in the past few years. The question was, why? And while he was at it…who? It wasn't everybody that had access to Ancient technology; well, other than what the goa'uld had already stolen and made their own. He was fairly certain things like the hand device and ring transporters hadn't been invented by the goa'uld. They simply weren't that clever.

"I suppose we could make a decent slave of you." She continued, approaching him and dragging a hand through his hair. "Assuming it is worth the trouble." She added, casting a glance toward the Kull.

"Once blended I'm sure you will find him to be quite valuable." The Kull replied.

The still unnamed woman smiled before sauntering back toward her throne. "You may take him." She nodded to the Kull as she settled in the oversized chair. "Return him to Us when the implantation is complete."

"Yes, my queen."

"Wait." Daniel said as the Jaffa hauled him to his feet. "What about my friends?"

"Your 'friends' are of no use to Us." She said, barely sparing him a glance as he was dragged from the room. "Their bodies were left on the planet. Take him." She ordered with a snap of her fingers.

Daniel made no effort to keep up with the Jaffa's strides, forcing the two men to drag him through the halls. SG-14 wasn't dead. They couldn't be…if for no other reason than they were his only hope. Completely self-centered as the thought was, if they really were dead then no one knew where to find him. She had to have been lying; messing with his mind. Someone from the team had to have made it back by then and had most likely briefed Jack on the latest mess Daniel had gotten himself into. Help was coming. Of course, whether it reached him before he was turned into a host was another problem, altogether.

Struggling uselessly in the grip of the guards he had little hope that he'd actually manage to free himself. Still, he wasn't about to be accommodating if they intended to stick a symbiote in him. He pushed, pulled, and kicked against every hand on him as they hefted him onto a table, the high pitched shrieking of a symbiote making his efforts more frantic. They were not going to turn him into a host. He wasn't going to live the rest of his life as a prisoner in his own body, forced to do the bidding of the parasites he'd spent the better part of a decade fighting against. He just wasn't.

_Please, Jack, you've gotta get me out of this!_

**XxXxXxXx**

Jack sat fuming in his office, resisting the urge to pound something, anything. SG-14 had missed a check in and he had dialed the planet to find the remnants of a total catastrophe strewn across the sand in front of the gate. All, but one member of the team had been killed and Daniel was nowhere to be found. What they had found instead, were a whole lot of dead Jaffa.

Damn it!

He had known in his bones the mission had been a bad idea, but he had also felt bad about continually denying Daniel's requests to go to Atlantis. Jack had wanted to make it up to him so he had approved the mission to P8X-YY2 against his better judgment. With nothing, but a gut feeling to back up his denial of the mission, he hadn't felt that he had any legitimate reason to turn it down. Ok, yes, he was the BMOC these days, but "because I said so" wasn't exactly an argument Daniel took seriously. Jack hadn't had any logical reason that Daniel would accept as valid so he had agreed. Well, now it seemed he'd had a valid reason after all. A four-man security detail with fully loaded weapons and Daniel had still managed to end up in the wrong hands.

Perfect. This was just perfect. Jack was making it up to him by letting him get snatched by an over dressed, egomaniacal, self aggrandizing snake. Perfect!

Teal'c had already sent a message to Bra'tac for help, but Jack had a sinking feeling that there was only one group that could give them much in the way of intel on this. As much as he loathed involving the Tok'ra in anything to do with the SGC there was simply no one else to turn to. Their information wasn't always 100% accurate…even when they decided to actually share it…but they had a bigger network of spies than Brat'ac did. If Jack could get them to play along he might actually be able to stage a rescue.

It was that single concept that had him wanting to pound his fists into his desk. He honestly didn't know which was worse, the smug look the Tok'ra representative would have when he admitted the SGC needed their help, or the condescending way they would most likely tell him they were too busy to be bothered and Daniel was on his own.

"Unscheduled off-world activation." The announcement interrupted his thoughts.

Jack snatched the phone from its cradle and pushed the intercom button for the control room.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"It's Bra'tac's IDC code, Sir."

"Open the iris."

Finally, some good news! Jack pushed back from his desk and strode through the briefing room to the stairs, bounding down them in time to see the Jaffa leader materialize through the event horizon.

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel opened his eyes to total darkness. Well this was different. He reached out in an attempt to get some idea of where he was only to have his hands graze along very solid walls mere inches from each shoulder. Feeling his way along the confines of his newest cell, he found barely enough room to slide his hand between the end of his nose and the wall in front of him. He was in a box. The word "coffin" floated to mind being instantly translated into something much more sinister and suddenly his heart was racing.

He barely had time to begin pounding at the walls when the slab in front of him split down the middle and light began pouring in. Reaching out through the opening with one arm he pushed the pieces further apart forcing his way into the light and hurling himself out of the box as if it were on fire.

A sarcophagus. They'd put him in a damned sarcophagus!

Panting and spinning in circles he noticed a few things in very quick succession as he tried to get control of his racing pulse. First, he was shirtless. Second, he was shoeless. Third, he was alone, and more odd than all of those, nothing hurt. A part of him insisted that he should have been grinding his teeth, struggling against the urge to scream in pain, but nothing hurt…any more. He wasn't sure which was more disconcerting: the fact that he'd been stuffed in a sarcophagus or that his brain seemed to be a few steps behind the current reality.

Something had happened. He'd been in the throne room. Jaffa had dragged him down the hall. They'd put him on a table and then… In an instant, scenes flashed through his mind: a writhing, squalling symbiote, unrestrained panic as he waited for the creature to take control, pain as the creature had then burrowed its way back out of his body, then more pain as the very unhappy Kull warrior had donned a ribbon device and attempted to melt his brain.

Something had gone wrong…or right. He wasn't sure which. For some reason the symbiote had rejected him. He'd never heard of such a thing though he had to admit he wasn't even remotely upset by the concept. Considering that he didn't remember anything after the excruciating pain of the ribbon device he could only assume the Kull had killed him. Ok, was it odd that the Kull could use the ribbon device? Didn't you have to have naquadah in your blood for that? Sam would know whether or not a typical Kull had the necessary mineral built in, but she wasn't there at the moment. Not that it mattered. This particular model of warrior obviously wasn't typical.

Questions were piling up in his mind and he didn't have an answer to even the most basic of them. His face worked into a disturbed scowl, Daniel turned back toward the box that used to regularly haunt his dreams. How long would it be before he figured out whether or not the sarcophagus was mutating him back into a person he didn't recognize? Trying to stay calm, he reminded himself that he'd been dead at the time they had stuffed him in it so maybe he was safe. Of course, if they put him through that very many more times it might be a different story. It would chip away pieces of his mind until he was something resembling the loathsome man he had been on Shyla's planet; a person willing to sacrifice the lives of his friends without even batting an eye. Or maybe it would just turn him into a babbling idiot. He really had no idea and was definitely not in the mood to find out.

Daniel shook the train of thought loose, forcing himself to focus on something that would actually prove useful. Scanning the room he quickly padded to the door and peered out into the hall. It was empty for the time being, but he doubted it would stay that way. Most likely they hadn't intended to leave him alone for long. He had no idea where in the ship he was. He had even less idea of how to get where he wanted to be. Still, anywhere was better than being in a room with that damned box so he quietly slipped into the hall looking for anything that might help him escape. An unguarded ring transporter would be nice, but at that particular point he'd take anything he could get; even an empty storage closet would work.

Keeping his ear tuned to the sound of Jaffa on the move or an alarm indicating they had discovered he was missing, he tip-toed down the hall, peering into rooms as he went, hoping he wasn't going to come face to face with a room full of guards, or worse, the Queen. It didn't take long to realize that he wasn't going to find a decent hiding place until he started actually opening doors. It was not a concept that thrilled him by any stretch of the imagination, but wandering aimlessly in circles and hiding in doorways wasn't going to get him very far. Eventually he'd be caught. The question was did he want to risk being caught by opening the wrong door or risk being caught by attempting to hide out in the open?

If he could get to the Pel'tac or an alternate control room then maybe he could figure out where he was, but it was a safe bet both of those places were occupied. Without a weapon the best he could do was stride into the room and wave at them. It would certainly confuse them, but it wouldn't help him get off the ship.

Inevitably the sound of Jaffa began echoing through the halls. Since he no longer had the luxury of taking his time coming up with a plan, Daniel began randomly opening doors, ducking out of the way when they opened before cautiously peering inside. It was that method that eventually led him to stumble onto what could only be classified as a storage room, crates and bins piled here and there. It was very much a short term plan, but at least it would give him a few minutes to come up with something better.

He'd been huddled behind a stack of crates for nearly ten minutes before the door to the room opened.

"Show yourself, Tau'ri." A menacing voice growled.

It took him a full five seconds of contemplation before Daniel remembered the Ha'tak tracking system. They could see life forms on the ship. Since he was a life form… Crap! How had he managed to forget that without the isotope he was visible to their sensors? Reluctantly he emerged from his hiding place.

"I was, uh, looking for a bathroom." He offered lamely without any expectation that they would believe him.

"You will come with us." One of the Jaffa informed him.

"Right." Daniel replied as the nearest one grabbed his arm and ushered him out into the hall.

**XxXxXxXx**

Jack settled at the head of the conference table, Bra'tac, Teal'c, and Carter making up the rest of the briefing. The fact that Bra'tac hadn't come striding down the ramp with his typical sense of urgency didn't exactly bode well as far as Jack was concerned. Still, he was holding onto a tiny scrap of optimism that together they would be able to figure out something they could use to make sense out of Daniel's latest catastrophe.

"Did any of the Jaffa survive?" Bra'tac asked when they described the scene they had found on P8XYY2.

"None that stayed on the planet." Carter replied.

"Whose Jaffa were among the dead?"

"They had different markings." Carter replied. "Almost like a random collection."

"Several of them bore the mark of Nephthys." Teal'c added, to which Bra'tac's eyebrows rose several inches.

"That mean something to you, Bra'tac?" Jack asked.

"Possibly." He admitted. "I have heard rumors that Nephthys travels in the company of a Kull warrior."

"I thought Anubis had all those…things." Jack replied.

"With Anubis out of the picture there's no telling what happened to them." Carter said.

"Personally I was kind of hoping they were dead." He admitted.

"As we have seen, they would prove extremely difficult to kill." Teal'c added.

"I do not believe any of the system lords would be so careless." Bra'tac said. "Such formidable warriors would be of great value. They would sooner take their own lives than destroy the chance to rule such a powerful army."

"Great." Jack groused. "One more fantasy shot to hell. So who is this Nipties person?"

"Nephthys." Teal'c corrected.

"Whatever."

"Nephthys is an ancient system lord." Bra'tac replied. "She has ruled for centuries; longer than most of the others."

"She is also the mother of Anubis." Teal'c provided.

Jack's jaw dropped open. Teal'c was just telling him this _now_?

"Ok, see something like that would have been handy to know before now." He groused.

"Do you think Anubis is behind this?" Carter asked. "I mean, he's dead, right?"

"Frozen solid," Jack instantly replied, "but if he's not involved in this somehow then it's a pretty big coincidence. I mean, Anubis bites it a few weeks ago and she suddenly turns up and starts kidnapping people? If I didn't know better I'd think it was revenge."

"Not 'people'," Bra'tac said, "only one person."

"You think she was after Daniel specifically?" Carter asked.

"I cannot be certain, but if she only wanted Tau'ri why take him and leave the others?"

"Why not grab the first person they could get their hands on." Carter concluded, Bra'tac nodding in agreement. "But if she was after him specifically how would she know he was there?"

"This I do not know." He admitted.

"DanielJackson has been on the planet for several days. Perhaps someone informed her." Teal'c offered.

"SG-14 never said anything about anyone being on the planet with them." Jack replied. "They were completely alone."

"Then perhaps the temple holds a means of communicating with her." Bra'tac offered.

"You think Daniel called her?" Jack gaped.

"That is doubtful. I think perhaps the temple is able to detect when someone is present."

"They can do that?"

"The system lords have such ability in a great many temples." Teal'c said.

Jack sat listening to the conversation that was unfolding with a disquieting sense of foreboding creeping slowly up his spine making him twitch slightly.

"What if it was a trap?" Carter interjected.

The small group stared back at her.

"A trap designed to capture DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked.

"I don't know. Maybe." She shrugged. "I mean, why else have sensors in a temple on a deserted planet?"

"That's assuming that's really what's going on here." Jack replied, still hoping for another explanation.

"It is well known among the system lords that Daniel Jackson has learned many of their secrets from the writings on abandoned temples." Bra'tac said. "It is this knowledge that has aided you from the beginning."

"True, but why leave a trap out in the middle of nowhere when she has no idea when or if he'll ever find it?" Jack replied. "What's the point?"

"She could have set more than one." Carter shrugged.

"So there's an entire universe of Daniel Jackson traps out there just waiting for him to stumble onto one of them?" Jack asked skeptically. "I ask again…what's the point?"

"Perhaps she is seeking Ancient technology." Teal'c supplied with a short enough pause that Jack suspected he had probably been thinking about the concept for most of their briefing.

"Why would they need Daniel for that?" Carter asked. "If Nephthys has been working with Anubis when why didn't she just get the technology from him?"

"That's assuming she's really working with him." Jack replied. "You know how these guys operate. None of them trust each other because they're all nuts. For all we know she's trying to find out what Anubis knows so she can beat him to the punch."

"Perhaps." Teal'c replied. "But it is beginning to look as if this kidnapping was not random."

"The reasons behind her actions are hardly of consequence at the moment." Bra'tac said.

"They're not?" Carter replied.

"No, they're not." Jack agreed, relieved that they were finally onto a train of thought that led to a heck of a lot less speculation and a lot more action. "The only thing that matters is she has Daniel. I don't care what her plans are. _My_ plan is to get him back before she does whatever it is she's trying to do. Now, how do we make that happen?"

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel opened his eyes and was once again staring out through the opening in the sarcophagus. With a heavy sigh he climbed out of the golden box still shirtless and barefoot, but with a much better memory of what had happened. The Kull warrior had tried one more time to implant him with a symbiote only to have the shrieking worm burrow right back out of him just like the first one. While Daniel had been incredibly relieved if a bit confused to find himself an obviously unsuitable host, the warrior had been something close to livid. Snarling in anger he had done what Daniel had never in his life seen a system lord do. He had beaten him with is bare hands. Typically the goa'uld preferred to torture humans using weapons that made physical contact unnecessary, as if the act was completely beneath them. The Kull apparently had no such qualms. If not for the box Daniel would have had the cuts and bruises to prove it.

He couldn't remember the point where he'd passed out. He also couldn't remember being hurt badly enough to warrant the sarcophagus, neither of which he minded. What he did remember was finding it odd that the system lord's 2IC was so openly hostile. Normally that level of wrath was left to the goa'uld in charge and that guy was certainly not it. Maybe he was the designated interrogator. The goa'uld definitely had those, but they didn't tend to take up residence next to the throne. It didn't make a lot of sense…not that he found that entirely surprising. So far nothing about the encounter with the goa'uld whose name he still didn't know made any sense.

Another thing he didn't find particularly surprising was the fact that this time there was a Jaffa standing guard at the door.

"You will come with me." The man stated.

Daniel didn't bother to argue. He followed reluctantly as the man tugged him down the hall by one arm returning him to the same room where they'd attempted to implant him twice already.

"Look guys, obviously this isn't going to work." He groused as they manhandled him onto the table and secured his arms and legs to it with metal restraints that automatically gripped him.

"You are correct, Daniel Jackson." A low, familiar voice spoke from the corner of the room, the Kull stepping into view, another man trailing silently behind him; one that wasn't wearing the uniform of a Jaffa. "I must admit, I have never encountered a Tau'ri that was unable to be blended before. But then, you are not a typical Tau'ri, are you?"

"Who are you?" He asked the warrior.

"There will be time for introductions later." The dark figure replied. "I suppose I should thank you for sparing me the trouble of having to present the award of Ancient weapons to another goa'uld. I was so hoping to find you, myself."

"You offered the reward?"

"I did."

"Why?"

"To put it simply, you have something I want."

"And you think I'll give it to you?"

"Eventually."

The Kull held out a hand containing a small dark sphere covered in spikes. Daniel had never seen anything like it before, but at the same time he knew instantly what it was. It was exactly like the probe Anubis had used on Jonas. Or at least it fit Jonas' description closely enough to count. Daniel watched, eyes glued to the orb, as the warrior handed it over to the man who had followed him into the room, apparently a servant of the system lord. Heart racing in anticipation, Daniel continued trying to piece things together.

The probe Anubis had used had been his own unique design, one that apparently allowed him to see into his victim's mind more clearly than a typical memory device. The fact that Daniel was laying there looking at the thing meant the system lord he had met in the throne room had either stolen it from him or Anubis had given it to her for whatever reason. He doubted Anubis would be willing to simply hand over something that gave him a clear advantage over his competitors. Maybe it had fallen into her hands when Anubis left, not unlike the Kull whose expressionless face was staring down at him. Of course, none of that answered the question of how the warrior knew him, the Kull apparently having more information about him than even the system lord did. That in itself was more than a little odd. Actually, they were way past "odd" at that point. The whole thing was downright bizarre. He could now add the fact that the Kull had put the bounty on his head to the list of things that made absolutely no sense.

The servant grabbed Daniel's face and turned his head to the side with some effort, Daniel intending to fight this newest assault with everything he had. If they were going to burrow into his mind and take what he didn't want to give then they were going to have to work for it.

"Resistance serves no purpose." The servant said in a bored tone.

"Don't." Daniel warned.

"As I said," the man replied, holding the spiked orb to Daniel's temple, "it serves no purpose."

Daniel felt a sharp pain as the spike burrowed into his head the same way the memory devices did. The first stab was followed by another, then another, then another, each spike digging into him before producing probes that bored into his skull, sending tendrils into his brain and effectively anchoring the device to the side of his head. Daniel grunted in pain, jaw clenched and his breath coming in short gasps.

"Comfortable?" The Kull asked.

"Go to hell." Daniel growled.

"There is no need to take this personally, Daniel." The warrior replied. "You and I simply have unfinished business. Now, tell me everything you know about the Lost City."

**XxXxXxXx**

"Unscheduled off-world activation." Sergeant Harriman announced over the loudspeaker.

Jack immediately reached for the phone on his desk with one hand and the knot forming at the back of his neck with the other.

"Who is it, Sergeant?"

"It's the Tok'ra's IDC, Sir."

This day just kept getting better and better. Bra'tac showed up with no more information than they already had. The rescue mission was stalled because they couldn't figure out how to find out where in the universe Daniel was, let alone locate the ship he was on and rescue him. Just when they'd figured out that without the Tok'ra's help they were going to have to leave him to fend for himself, the arrogant, annoying, group in question came knocking on the door.

Jack supposed it was fortunate that he didn't have to find a way to track them down after a year's worth of silence from their end. At the same time, if they were showing up it meant they wanted something and he was absolutely sure he didn't want to get involved. Maybe they could do a swap. He'd consider getting involved in whatever mess they had in mind if they rescued Daniel. Of course, they would have to do their part first because "good faith" was not a term that Jack was willing to apply to that particular group. They'd have to produce Daniel before he even began to consider whatever hair brained scheme they had come up with this time.

"Open the iris." He sighed before pushing back from his chair.

Jack honestly wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that the Tok'ra member that came strolling down the ramp was Anise. He suspected they had sent her because she had somewhat of a rapport with them, though Jacob would have been a better choice. Maybe Jacob had refused. Jack resisted the urge to rub at his head as Anise joined him at the base of the ramp. He had enough to deal with without trying to figure out Tok'ra politics.

"It is good to see you again, Colonel O'Neill." She said with a smile.

"Actually, it's General O'Neill now." He replied.

"My apologies." She nodded.

"So…to what do we owe this dubious honor?" Jack asked, biting back the darker comments that tried to follow.

"I have come with a peace offering of sorts."

"Really?"

Ok, so she had at least managed to rouse his curiosity. Jack ushered her up to his office to hear about the "peace offering" and the bomb she dropped on him had him standing up from his chair and grabbing the phone moments later. Anise held off delivering the rest of the news until Carter and Teal'c had arrived and they had moved the party to the conference room.

"Tell them what you just told me." Jack said.

"We have information about Daniel Jackson." She said quite simply.

"You what?" Carter replied.

"That's exactly what I said." Jack added.

"One of our operatives aboard Nephthys' ship has reported that Daniel is being held prisoner.

"Do they know why?" Jack asked.

"Apparently she is looking for information about the Lost City."

"For crying out loud." Jack groused.

"Does he have this information?" Anise asked, the picture of innocence.

"Why?" Jack asked.

He was not about to answer that question and give the Tok'ra any more intel on the City than they already had. As far as he knew Osiris was the only goa'uld who had concrete knowledge of the fact that Daniel didn't have a clue where it was. Thankfully that particular snake was no longer talking. Jack was perfectly content to let the rest of them keep right on guessing about what the SGC did and didn't know.

"If he does and she manages to get it…"

"Then we'll all be in a lot of trouble. Yeah, we get that. Any chance your operative can get him out of there before that becomes an issue?" Jack replied.

"I'm afraid not, Colonel…I mean, General." She replied. "Rescuing him would mean aborting the mission and it is far too important to even consider."

"More important than Daniel's life?" Carter asked.

"I'm afraid so, Major Carter." Anise replied. "Personal feelings aside, it is vital that our operative remain undetected."

"So what are you offering?" Jack asked, side stepping the opportunity to inform Anise that Carter was now a Lieutenant Colonel.

"Only the information I have given you." She said. "If you can plan a rescue we can tell you where and assist your people in getting him off the ship, but that is the best we can do. Our operative has already put himself at great risk to relay the information."

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel was not even remotely surprised to find himself back in the sarcophagus. In fact, he would have been shocked if he'd been anywhere else. Cautiously he reached up to feel for the mind probe that he knew wouldn't still be attached to his head. Running fingers over the hair at his newly healed temple, he climbed reluctantly out of the box. He didn't really want to see what the Kull had in mind to do to him next.

He had no idea what secrets he'd given away. Obviously not the location of the Lost City since he didn't have it, but the list of other things he didn't want the goa'uld to know could have stretched around a city block.

He didn't remember much after the first few questions, just that the Kull had become annoyed rather quickly and with each question had turned up the juice on the probe. Daniel had no idea how. In fact, he had no idea how the probe worked in the first place when it was only attached to the side of his head…no monitor, no wires, no obvious way of communicating what it was pulling out of him. Still, something had obviously not gone according to plan because the pain had intensified again and again, building to a point where Daniel was sure his head was going to literally explode, his body arched of the table. The Kull had been growling at him, Daniel had been yelling and that's all he remembered. He could only assume he'd blacked out after that.

Daniel clenched his jaw as he wrapped his arms around his still bare chest. He hated feeling like a traitor even if it hadn't been his fault. In fact, he hated everything about this situation. Especially the fact that the more he thought about it the more he realized he was probably on his own as far as a rescue went. They were in a Ha'tak floating somewhere in the universe. There was no telling how far he was from P8X-YY2. Even if Jack was looking for him, and he had little doubt that he was, they would never find him. It was a depressing thought, but it was the truth. Somewhere in between being tormented by the Kull and being stuffed back in that infernal magic box he was going to have to find a way out of this because he refused to spend the rest of his life playing this game.

"You will come with me." The Jaffa at the door stated.

"Yeah, yeah." Daniel muttered.

Wandering a path that was rapidly becoming familiar, Daniel found himself back in the same room with the same table. Once again they strapped him down and once again he came face to face with the Kull. Well, face to helmet, actually. This time there was no spiked sphere in his hand, of course the goa'uld equivalent to a cattle prod that he held instead wasn't exactly a welcomed sight. Daniel knew all about the long, metal stick and the jolt it delivered.

"What exactly do you expect me to tell you that the mind probe didn't?" Daniel growled, anger overriding his fear of what was to come.

"Everything." The Kull said. "Or maybe nothing at all."

"What?"

"Have you considered that perhaps it is for my own enjoyment?"

"It had occurred to me."

"Oma may have sent you back to human form with a few alterations that make you immune to blending and severely limit the ability of the mind device, however, I doubt she has made you impervious to torture."

Daniel had no idea how to respond. Did the Kull know about Oma because he knew more than he was supposed to for an assumedly brainless warrior…or because of what the probe had shown him?

"Do you still not know who I am?" The Kull asked in response to his baffled silence.

"No idea." Daniel admitted.

"So many times you have attempted to tangle my plans and you do not recognize me? Not even after we have inhabited the same body? I must admit," he said, pacing the length of the table, "I am slightly disappointed."

"What do you mean 'inhabited the same body'?"

"Do not become caught up in appearances, Doctor Jackson, I have not always looked the way I do now."

A dark, foreboding feeling crept up the length of Daniel's spine. This couldn't be real. This dark figure looming over him couldn't possibly be…

"In fact, I have inhabited several bodies since we last met, though I think the one you probably remembered best was a cloak…without a face."

"Anubis." Daniel whispered, eyes wide and his throat dry. "But how…"

"The Kull bodies are much sturdier than that of a human. I can inhabit them for quite some time before they began to decay. Of course, finding a replacement is far from difficult. There are thousands of them, you know. The lack of variety is a bit stifling, but we do what we must."

Had the helmet allowed him the ability Daniel had no doubt Anubis would be smirking at him.

"You have gotten in my way for the last time, Doctor Jackson." He said, his tone suddenly menacing. "And now that we understand each other…we can begin."

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel dragged himself out of the sarcophagus with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. He might not have been hurting any more, a welcome relief after the last session, but unfortunately the magic box had done nothing for his state of mind.

The little game they were playing might have been about getting information out of him in the beginning, but Anubis had made it abundantly clear that it wasn't the goal any more. There was no point in asking Daniel about Ancient technology because Anubis already knew all about it so at this point it had become nothing more than a never ending game of "torture the tau'ri" until Anubis grew bored with it and finally let Daniel die one last time. He honestly didn't want to think about how long that might take.

He tried not to be completely depressed by the concept, but it was an uphill battle.

"You will come with me." The guard stated.

"No, I think I'd rather stay right here if it's all the same." He replied.

"Move." The Jaffa ordered, leveling his staff weapon at him.

"Right." Daniel sighed before letting himself be ushered out of the room one more time.

**XxXxXxXx**

The servant strode quickly through the halls of the Ha'tak, robes rustling quietly around his legs, a lone Jaffa following silently in his wake. The same bored expression he always wore was plastered firmly on his face as he approached the Jaffa standing guard at the door where the sarcophagus was kept. The servant had to be sure he did nothing to arouse suspicion. There would be enough of it once the deception was discovered, but hopefully the blame would land squarely on the shoulders of the new Jaffa. Of course, system lords were unpredictable by nature. Nephthys could order them all killed instead of attempting to weed out the guilty ones. It was easier that way. Hopefully he would have time to escape if that happened. The fact that the risk was being taken for a Tau'ri made his blood boil. Still, this was no typical Tau'ri. Sure, he was as annoying and condescending as the others, but the information in his head was of great value. Of course, the servant would have felt better if his identity as an operative wasn't at risk; not to mention his life.

"Lord Anubis has a task for you." He stated to the Jaffa currently standing guard, the calm, authoritative tone of his voice countering the rapid thundering of his heart. "Come. You, stand guard and do not let the tau'ri escape or your life will be forfeit in exchange. Is that understood?" He ordered the replacement Jaffa that had been obediently following him through the halls.

The new guard nodded as the old one followed the servant back through the halls at a rapid pace. Waiting until they were out of sight the guard slipped into the room. He pushed a sequence of characters on the gleaming sarcophagus in rapid succession and immediately the heavy top parted, stopping the healing process before it had finished. The tau'ri was alive, but badly injured, however, healing him was no longer a priority. Master Bra'tac was waiting. By the time someone came to check on the supposedly regenerated prisoner they would be long gone.

Quickly he hefted the one they called Daniel over his shoulder, a quiet moan escaping the injured man. Moving as quickly and quietly as he could through the halls he stepped into the ring transporter, whispered a warning to the cloaked glider outside, and activated the rings.

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel slowly opened his eyes and stared at the gray blur surrounding him. Blinking for a moment, he let them slide closed again when it seemed more effort than it was worth to try to get them to focus. At the moment, he didn't really care where he was. He was warm, he was nearly comfortable and that was enough. He would have been perfectly content if it weren't for the pounding in his head and the dozen or so places on his body that hurt like hell. Still, there was no point in being picky. He would take what he could get. After all, he hurt all the time lately. Nothing new about a little pain.

It dawned on him as he began to drift back to sleep that while he could explain the fact that he hurt, he couldn't explain the gray room. He was in the process of trying to decide whether or not he cared when, like a buoy rising to the surface of the water, a single thought made its way through the haze in his mind: no sarcophagus. He wasn't in the sarcophagus! This was his chance to get off the ship before they came for him again. Frantic desperation hit him like a bucket of ice water, instantly slapping him awake. Eyes wide he glanced around the room, his focus darting from one corner to the other. He was alone. This was his chance.

Throwing back the blankets he barely took notice of the bandages scattered across his body, groaning quietly as nearly every part of him protested the movement. Clawing at the tubes and wires attached to various limbs, he struggled to free himself from the contraptions while casting anxious glances toward the door. Daniel swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood on legs that threatened to dump him in a heap on the floor. Wobbling, knees buckling, he braced himself briefly against the bed before heading with shuffling steps toward the door. The fact that he had no idea where he was going was only a mild annoyance in the back of his mind. It didn't matter. He would figure that out as he went. Bracing himself against the door jamb, he peered out into the hall, his heart hammering in his chest, disgruntled machinery screeching near the empty bed behind him. It wouldn't be long before they attracted attention and he needed to be long gone before that happened if he wanted to have any chance of escape. They would pick him up on the censors in a matter of minutes and his hopes of getting off the ship would evaporate.

Despite the urgency, his body only seemed willing to move in slow motion leaving him doing a slow shuffle down the hall as he leaned heavily on the grey concrete walls for support.

Questions began piling up in the corner of his mind as he focused on his goal of getting the heck out of the room and off the ship. Luckily he could be incredibly single-minded when it suited him. Pesky concepts like why the building felt so familiar, why the color of the walls was wrong, and why he had simply been abandoned instead of being put back in the sarcophagus could wait until he found a safe place to hide. If they caught him he was sure to regret it. "They". The word brought him up short for a fraction of a second. Who were "they" again? Never mind, it didn't matter. First escape, then think.

Daniel could hear hurried footsteps coming down the hall, the steady tapping on the concrete floor only adding to his panic and snapping his focus back into place. They were coming for him. The noise sounded wrong somehow, but it didn't matter. They were coming and he wasn't moving nearly fast enough to get away. Cursing his weak body, he kept walking, one halting step at a time, hoping against hope that he would be around the corner and out of sight before the owner of the shoes caught up with the empty room and came looking for him.

Wait. Shoes. He was hearing shoes. He wasn't running from someone that wore shoes, was he? He didn't think so, but then it was hard to think with his head screaming at him. It didn't matter. He had to keep moving.

**XxXxXxXx**

Dr. Brightman was in her office tapping away on the computer when alarms started going off at the nursing station. Instantly her head came up and she was out of her chair.

"It's Doctor Jackson." A nurse confirmed as Brightman emerged from her office.

She nodded as she charged through the main infirmary and headed toward the isolation rooms that served as the SGC's version of an Intensive Care Unit. That many alarms meant that either Daniel was having a massive seizure, was in cardiac arrest, or had finally become coherent enough to leave his bed and wander the halls, as ill advised as it might be. Barreling down the hall she hoped for the latter.

No one had been witness to what Nephthys had put him through, but from the look of him it hadn't been anything even remotely resembling a picnic. He had been severely beaten and obviously tortured before Bra'tac had managed to rescue him, pulling him from the sarcophagus before the contraption had had time to do more than reestablish his heartbeat. His condition had been grave when he was first brought to her as a bleeding bundle of injuries, but after 48 hours it had been optimistically upgraded to critical. As she sprinted down the hall Brightman prayed that things hadn't just downgraded themselves right back to grave. She hadn't lost a patient since taking over as CMO at the SGC. She really didn't want to start with him.

Rounding the corner in the infirmary hallway, she jogged toward Daniel's room and instantly slowed to a relieved stroll when she saw him shuffling several yards ahead of her, leaning heavily on the wall.

"As glad as I am to see you up and around, Dr. Jackson," she said, slightly out of breath "you probably shouldn't be out of bed."

She didn't miss the fact that the sound of her voice had startled him, Daniel jumping and lurching forward as if trying to hurry his pace.

"I didn't mean to startle you." She said. "Do you know where you are?"

He glanced back at her over his shoulder and in the brief moment that he was willing to make eye contact the mingled panic and anger on his bruised face was more than obvious.

"It's alright, Daniel." She soothed. "No one's going to hurt you."

"I have to get out." He rasped, obviously out of breath.

"Why don't you come back to your room and we'll talk about it."

"They'll find me." He insisted, the wobbling of his legs and trembling of his arms telling her that his body was about to give out on him, panic or no panic.

"You're safe here, Daniel." She soothed.

"They're coming. I can hear it." He insisted, gasping for air, the sound of a small crew of nurses jogging down the hall behind her doing nothing to calm him. "Just get me to the rings. I'll make it the rest of the way on my own."

"It's alright." She repeated, inching her way toward him as she motioned for the nurses to stop. "It's just the medical team. You're back on Earth, in the SGC. It's over."

"S…SGC?" He echoed, confusion obvious on his face as he stared at the multi-colored lines on the floor.

"Stargate Command." She elaborated, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her lab coat.

"I know this place." He said in a near whisper.

"Yes, you do." She assured him, Daniel mildly startled at the reply to a comment he had obviously made to himself.

"Jack! I need to find Jack." He suddenly blurted as another piece of the puzzle apparently settled into place despite his confusion.

"Alright," Brightman soothed "why don't you come back to bed and I'll call him."

She didn't mention her surprise at the fact that he hadn't been sitting by Daniel's bed already, his almost full time post for the past two days.

"Get me a wheelchair." she whispered to the small group of nurses gathered behind her. "You're exhausted and I'm pretty sure in a lot of pain." She said to her errant patient. "Why don't you came back and lie down?" She suggested, taking another step toward him.

Daniel paused for a moment, wiping sweat from his face with a trembling hand.

"I want to help you." She assured him as she continued to inch toward him. "Will you let me do that?"

"Will you get me out of here?" he asked in desperation, the apprehension and fear still apparent in his eyes despite the fact that his movement had stopped.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." She admitted. "You're badly hurt. You need to rest."

He stared back at her uncertainly. "You have to let me go." He panted, closing his eyes in a mixture of defeat and exhaustion. Resting against the concrete wall, Daniel shook his head sadly back and forth. "You don't understand. They'll find me. I can't let them find me."

"We won't let that happen." She assured him. "I promise."

Taking a few long moments to think over her proposal, he finally nodded weakly, apparently seeing that he had little choice. "I hope you're right." He whispered, his eyes glazing over as the terror slipped from him. At nearly the same moment he finally slid to the floor, his energy spent.

Dr. Brightman and the nurses carefully settled him into the wheelchair, taking great care with his numerous injuries, and rolled him back to his bed to reattach him to the monitors and IV.

Daniel's attempt to escape the infirmary hadn't exactly been a surprise. While Dr. Brightman hadn't known exactly what to expect from him when he finally woke up, a raging case of Post Traumatic Stress was a given. The fact that he had been unconscious when Bra'tac had brought him back to Earth was probably only adding to his confusion. One minute he was being beaten and the next he was home with no recollection of what had happened in between. His panic was certainly understandable. As far as he knew he was still on that ship.

One of the nurses placed the call to General O'Neill while Brightman was tucking Daniel back in bed. Before she had finished reattaching the equipment Jack appeared in the doorway.

"Daniel?" he called as he crossed the threshold.

"I'm sorry, General, he's asleep."

"The call said he was awake."

"He was." She nodded. "Long enough to try to make a run for the elevator. He probably used up several days worth of energy on that little escape attempt." She sighed.

"How is he?"

"Confused. He thinks he's still a prisoner."

O'Neill nodded, jaw clenched as he turned dark eyes on his injured friend.

"Give it some time, Sir." She said gently. "He's only been awake for a few minutes at time. Things haven't really had a chance to sink in yet. In the meantime I'll have him moved to the main infirmary in case he tries this again."

"Thanks. Can I…?" he asked, motioning to the vacant chair near the bed.

"Of course." Brightman nodded before grabbing Daniel's chart to make a few notes.

She could tell by the set of his jaw that O'Neill was working his way from angry to outright livid, not that she could blame him. The goa'uld had gone to great lengths to snatch Daniel and while O'Neill seemed to always take it personally when someone messed with a member of his team, this time it actually was personal. This hadn't been a random act. They had apparently sought out Daniel with the obvious intention of torturing him until they got what they wanted. Dr. Brightman didn't want to think about how long it might have gone on if the rescue plan hadn't worked. Daniel was safe now and that was all that mattered. From O'Neill's point of view, however, it was a different story.

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel watched as Anubis circled him with the stick, though he tried not to. Despite the mask that made any type of facial expression impossible, Daniel could tell he was enjoying himself. The Kull's body most likely made him physically stronger than he had ever been and he seemed to like the way it felt. Maybe it was the intoxication of it or maybe because he was wearing protective clothing, either way he had no problem reaching out odd intervals and backhanding Daniel across the face. It would have been unthinkable behavior for a typical system lord, but then they were talking about Anubis. He had ceased being typical long ago.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Anubis level the stick at him and felt the jolt that followed as it was jabbed into his side, a white hot bolt of energy flowing through him, making him arch off the table despite the restraints. He knew he was screaming, but he didn't care. Not any more. It felt like days since this particular session of torture had begun and he was eager to see it end, even though it would mean his body had finally given out and he was declared dead one more time and stuffed back into the sarcophagus.

Finally the pain died to a low throb as Anubis began circling him again. Daniel lay panting, covered in sweat, his entire body aching. Slowly he opened his eyes, debating whether or not it would be better just to keep them closed. He had fully expected to find himself in the same room with the same gold accented walls, but instead he saw gray; gray walls and a pair of brown eyes.

"Daniel?" A gentle voice spoke his name as he struggled to figure out what had just happened. "You alright?"

A hand touched him and he instantly jerked away. This was wrong. It was all wrong. He was…wait, where was he? The insistent wailing of an alarm captured his attention and he turned toward the sound to see a screen covered in jagged colored lines with a blinking red light glaring at him. He was…? Ok, he knew this. He was in…

"You're in the infirmary." The voice reassured him as if reading his mind.

"Jack." He croaked, swinging his attention back from the machine to the brown eyes that suddenly had a name attached to them.

"You were dreaming." Jack assured him.

"How did I get here?" he asked, his voice gravely and rough, panic buzzing in his brain.

"Bra'tac brought you back a few days ago. You don't remember?"

"No." he shook his head, a deep frown settling across his face.

He'd been rescued? That didn't make any sense. How could he not remember something like that? Jack had to be wrong. He hadn't been rescued, at least not permanently. Of course, the fact that Jack was actually sitting there staring at him added to the confusion.

"They found you on Nephthys' ship."

Nephthys. Did he know Nephthys? He had a vague recollection of the name tucked somewhere in a dusty corner of his mind. After a few moments of half hearted digging he gave up the quest, too exhausted to keep up the search for something that seemed relatively unimportant.

Daniel settled back against the mattress, willing the visions of Anubis from his mind. For the time being it seemed to be over even if he couldn't explain how. There were no guards, no Kull silently gloating over him, no sarcophagus. Maybe he had passed out. Maybe it was all just a dream; a hopeful fantasy. It wasn't real. He was almost certain of it, the fact that Jack was talking about a goa'uld Daniel had never met seemed to confirm it. Still, it was a lot better than dealing with Anubis.

It would have been a perfectly pleasant halucination if it hadn't been for the fact that the pain had followed him even into his dream. The torture might have ended, but his body was still throbbing from head to toe.

"You alright?" Jack's voice interrupted his musings.

"I'm, uh…I'm not sure." He admitted.

In real life, no, he was most definitely not alright, but since this was only a dream he supposed he was fine, even if he didn't feel that way.

"Do I need to get Brightman?" Jack asked, resting a hand on his arm.

Daniel flinched at the touch, though he wasn't sure why. It didn't exactly hurt, he was just jumpy, he supposed. Probably the niggling concept that at any moment he could wake up and find himself back on that damned table. He watched as Jack's expression fell for an instant before he covered it, his hand a gentle weight on Daniel's arm, thumb slowly stroking back and forth across his skin. Daniel welcomed the contact even though he knew how dangerous it would be to get too comfortable in the dream. Being tossed headlong back into the trauma of Anubis' torture chamber would be a very rude awakening to say the least and he couldn't afford to let the former system lord break him.

"You want some Jello?" Jack asked, plucking a small plastic cup of something green off the table near the bed with his free hand.

Daniel reached for it, eyeing the substance suspiciously. It looked familiar. Smelled a bit odd, though, and the way it shimmied was fascinating and disturbing all at the same time.

"What?" Jack asked, amused by the look on his face.

"Do I, uh…" Daniel shook the cup, watching the surface of the Jello ripple. "Do I eat this stuff?" He asked. "I mean, normally."

Jack just stared back at him, several emotions crossing his face in such quick succession that Daniel couldn't identify them. One thing he did recognize was the fact that he had apparently just said something wrong, a scowl replacing Jack's pleasant smile. His heart instantly began to race. Something about the change made him distinctly nervous. Maybe Jack was about to morph back into Anubis and the game would continue as if the dream had never happened, though his expression wasn't exactly cold, just disturbed.

Daniel watched with rapt attention as Jack shifted his gaze to the monitor on the other side of the bed, the one tracing the jagged lines of his racing heartbeat.

"It's alright, Daniel." He soothed, brown eyes drifting back to him and the disturbed expression covered once again with a gentle smile. "No big deal" He added, taking the cup from him and placing it back on the table. "Just thought you might be hungry."

"No." Daniel shook his head. "Not really."

"So, you don't remember Nephthys and you don't remember the rescue." Jack summed up, studying his face. "What's the last thing you _do_ remember?"

Daniel scowled back at him contemplating the question. He remembered a lot of things: the ship, Anubis, hour after hour strapped to that table, the sarcophagus, the nameless queen that he'd only met once. His only concern was why Jack was asking. It seemed an odd question for a dream. Maybe not. Still, something about it made him nervous. Was it a trap? Was Jack testing him? Did the question have a wrong answer that would instantly hurl him back to the ship, or maybe inspire Jack to label him a traitor and stick him in a cell somewhere? He was probably being paranoid. No, there was no probably about it. He was definitely being paranoid, but until he could figure out what was really going on Daniel felt a lot safer simply not answering the question.

"I'm really tired." He replied without having to fake the exhausted rasp in his voice.

"No problem." Jack replied instantly, his hand still on Daniel's arm. "We can talk about it later."

Daniel nodded and almost reluctantly let his eyes slide closed having no idea what things would look like when he opened them again.

**XxXxXxXx**

Jack sauntered into the infirmary to find Daniel already out of bed and padding barefoot around the space next to his gurney. He couldn't help, but smile at the scene. Dr. Brightman had promised to release him that morning and despite the fact that it was barely past 07:00 Daniel was obviously ready to go. Jack couldn't exactly blame him.

It had been ten days since his rescue; one Daniel still didn't remember. Basically he was taking their word for it. His stitches were out, most of his bruises had faded to a dull yellow and everything was working the way it should so he was free to go. He still wore himself out easily so he wasn't released for duty yet, but like everyone else, Daniel didn't have a lot of patience for lying around the infirmary. If he was awake long enough to get bored then he wanted to get back to work. Brightman was giving him permission to finish recuperating someplace that had better scenery, but he was still restricted to very limited duty until he had fully recovered.

"Brought you some clothes." Jack announced, Daniel's head instantly coming up and a smile lighting his face.

"Great."

"Has Brightman signed you out yet?"

"No, uh, not yet." Daniel said, unfolding the t-shirt in his pile of clothes and pulling the scrub top carefully up over his head.

"Need a hand?"

"No. I got it." Came the slightly muffled reply.

Once upon a time Daniel had been far too shy to consider stripping down in the main infirmary in front of anyone that might happen to come strolling by, but those days were gone. Several thousand post mission physicals and waking up stark naked on a strange planet apparently did that to a person. He wasn't a complete exhibitionist, but he wasn't the puritan he had once been either.

Jack grimaced at the still fading bruises and burns on his chest, back, stomach…well, basically scattered liberally across his entire upper body. That was in addition to the matching set arranged randomly on his legs. Jack clamped down on the anger the sight inspired. It was over. Daniel was home. That was all that mattered.

"What?" Daniel asked as his head appeared through the neck of his t-shirt to catch Jack studying him.

"Nothing. I'm going to go track down the Doc so we can get this show on the road. I'll meet you upstairs."

"Ok." Daniel agreed, briefly glancing around for any spectators before shedding his scrub pants as he steadied himself with a hand on the bed.

Jack had pretty well mapped out the rest of Daniel's recovery, repeated practice giving him more than a little familiarity with the process. He would spend the next week or so alternating his time between napping and working until he finally got the thumbs up from Brightman to officially go back to work. That might be followed by working on base for another week before he was cleared for full duty, but that would pretty much be the end of it.

The only part missing from the standard routine was the day or two of leave Jack typically took to spend with Daniel before letting him finish his recuperating alone, usually because at that point Daniel lost all patience with being hovered over and became too testy to be any fun. One thing Daniel had absolutely no patience for was being mothered. Ok, that and watching sports on TV.

As newly minted CO of the base Jack didn't really have the liberty to take leave whenever he wanted. Oh sure, he had the authority, but being in charge came with a ton of paperwork, an annoying number of phone calls, and a need to be up to date on everything that was happening on base and off world pretty much 24/7. After all, when one of the big guns further up the food chain asked for a status report on something at 09:00 on a random morning the last thing Jack wanted to have to tell them was "uh, I don't know, Sir. I've been busy vacuuming dust bunnies under the couch. Let me look into it and I'll get back to you."

Heading off to the cabin to fish was ok for the occasional long weekend, but the amount of crap that could pile up on his desk in the space of two short days was mind boggling. Not to mention not wanting to be gone long enough to give the NID or the IOC a chance to get a foothold while his back was turned. The days of taking a week to lounge around, catch up on his hockey watching, and mow the grass had apparently come to an end when Hammond had turned over the keys.

Jack stopped briefly in Brightman's office to tell her that not only was Daniel awake, he was out of bed and dressed so if she wanted to get a look at him before he released himself from the infirmary she had better get a move on. For his part, Jack had a few things to finish up in his office. By his calculations it would take about ten minutes for Dr. Brightman to check Daniel over one last time; allowing for Daniel's heavy sighing and protests to slow up the examination by a couple of minutes. Then Daniel would head to his office to riffle through his e-mail and in-box looking for things that had an urgent priority. He'd pull a few things off his shelves, gather up a few files, load his zip drive with even more crap, and then pack up his backpack and be ready to go. That gave Jack at least an hour to clear things off his own desk and peruse his own e-mail before Daniel would actually be ready to leave. After that, Jack planned to take the rest of the day off to make sure Daniel was really ready to look after himself.

So far he seemed fine. After a few days of being obviously confused and out of phase with the rest of the world Daniel had bounced back to his old self. He had nightmares here and there, but that was nothing new. Daniel had always had nightmares here and there. After what he'd been through he was entitled. Jack didn't anticipate any reason to have to check Daniel back into the infirmary, but he wanted to be sure…just in case.

**XxXxXxXx**

_Daniel woke to find himself being manhandled back down the same hall on the same ship. The guard was new, but that was about it. This wasn't right. He was home. They'd rescued him. Jack had said so. Sam had said so. Teal'c had said so. Everybody said so, so why was he back in this place? Daniel couldn't stand the idea that it had only been a dream. An incredibly long, incredibly detailed dream. Maybe it really had been nothing more than a hallucination; his mind trying to find a way to help him through a situation he was rapidly losing his ability to deal with. The concept was a crushing blow._

_He'd lost track of the number of times Anubis had killed him and brought him back. On the bright side because he was not only injured, but most likely dead every time they stuffed him into that damned box it wasn't having the same narcotic effect on him that it had when he'd been addicted. Thank whomever for small favors. Still, the merry-go-round of torture, death, and rebirth was really pissing him off. Especially now that it had become obvious Anubis' only intention with the endless abuse was to entertain himself._

_The Jaffa jerked Daniel into the same room with the same table, several of his brethren more than willing to lend a hand when Daniel began swinging and kicking at them. Four against one was hardly a fair fight, but it didn't matter. Daniel was pissed off and he was going to make them work to get what they wanted. As was always the case they eventually overpowered him and wrestled his limbs into the restraints. Anubis stepped out of the shadows with a ribbon device shoved onto the Krull's gloved hand, raised it and aimed the glowing crystal at Daniel._

**XxXxXxXx**

Jack had been a little off on his calculations. It had taken Daniel just over 90 minutes to go through his office, pack up his things, and call Jack to tell him he was ready to go. Apparently sorting through his in-box had taken a little time. Not exactly a surprise.

Jack had met him at the elevator, Daniel refusing to give up custody of his 90 pound backpack, stuffed to the gills with books and files. They had then taken a nice, slow walk out to the truck and Daniel had poured himself into the passenger seat having apparently used up his allotment of energy for the morning. That hadn't been much of a surprise either considering the fact that it was more activity than the man had had in nearly two weeks. Neither was it a surprise for Jack to look over a mere five minutes after they'd passed the main sentry station to find Daniel sound asleep. What had been a surprise was the yelp that had come out of nowhere as Daniel shrieked himself awake not ten minutes after that.

Wild eyed and straining against the seat belt Daniel was all flailing arms and legs as he fought against something Jack couldn't see.

"Take it easy, Daniel." He said, immediately pulling over to the side of the road, tires sliding on the gravel when he slammed on the brakes as Daniel tried to open the door and make a run for it.

If it hadn't been for the seat belt holding him in place Daniel would have hurled himself from the truck, moving or not.

"Daniel. Look at me." Jack ordered, a hand clamped down on the seatbelt release button to keep his wild eyed passenger from freeing himself. "Daniel!" he ordered in his best General O'Neill voice.

The tone was enough to at least get Daniel's attention even if it did nothing about the confusion and terror on his face.

"It's ok. It's just me. You're ok." Jack assured him.

"Where am I?" Daniel gasped, his gaze darting out the windows of the truck as he gulped in air.

"I'm taking you home." Jack explained calmly. "Remember? Brightman just released you from the infirmary and I'm taking you home."

"Where is he?" Daniel demanded, tugging at the seat belt. "Where is he?"

"Who?"

"Anubis."

The hair on the back of Jack's neck instantly stood at attention, his skin going cold. He had no idea what any of this had to do with Anubis, but it was a name he had never wanted to hear again for at least the rest of his career and it was coming up far too often for his liking lately.

"He's dead, Daniel. He's gone, remember? We sent him to the planet with the 365 day a year blizzard. He's a permanent popsicle."

"He was here."

"He's not here." Jack assured him. "It's just you and me."

Jack reached out with his free hand and rested it gently on Daniel's shoulder. Daniel flinched visibly at the contact, eyes immediately zeroing in on the offending hand before recognizing that it wasn't really a threat.

Jack had nursed Daniel through more nightmares than he cared to count. Some of them had been pretty bad, but this was a level of bald faced terror he'd never seen before. Somehow it seemed worse than even one of Daniel's typically traumatic night terrors and that was saying something, especially when Daniel's current reaction was starting to freak Jack out and it was the middle of the morning in broad daylight. He had always thought things looked more dramatic in the middle of the night when everything was cast in shadow, but apparently he had just been educated.

The fact that Daniel didn't seem to be able to shake himself out of it was more than a little disconcerting. It was the same level of confusion and disorientation they'd seen when he'd first regained consciousness in the infirmary. Something was going on, but he couldn't put a finger on exactly what. All he knew was, clean test results or not, something was wrong. Big wrong. Abominable Snowman in the middle of Central Park kind of wrong.

For a long moment Jack sat, the truck engine idling, his hand on Daniel's arm and his thumb running slowly back and forth across his shoulder in a continued effort to calm him. Daniel was still panting and shuddering, and Jack's mind was going a mile a minute. Did he take Daniel back to Dr. Brightman and tell her to check him out again or did he take him home and watch him like a hawk for the rest of the day hoping the whole thing had just been the result of too much excitement on the first day off the gurney? Part of him wanted to turn the truck around the put Daniel right back into the infirmary, but most of him didn't.

Maybe he was over reacting. Maybe something about the first change of scenery since his rescue had been some kind of Post Traumatic trigger. It wasn't exactly impossible. Besides, if there was something to find Dr. Brightman would most likely have found it. She wasn't Frasier, but she seemed to be fairly decent at her job. Jack didn't really want to take him back and Daniel most definitely wouldn't want to go so Plan B won out.

"Do you want to go back and have Brightman check you out?" Jack asked, just to be sure.

"No." Daniel said immediately. "I'm fine. It was just a dream, right?"

Jack didn't believe the "I'm fine" any more than he ever did, but he was willing to risk it this time.

"You ok?"

"Yeah." Daniel replied instantly, though the arms wrapped around himself said otherwise.

"Right." Jack sighed before putting the truck back in gear and pulling out onto the street.

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel had been home for four days. He was in the napping in between working phase of his recovery and Jack had come home for lunch as much to see him as to check up on him. Despite the dozens of people swarming around the place, it was lonely at the base without him.

Jack walked in the front door and announced himself only to be greeted with dead silence. Peering into the den from where he stood Jack could see Daniel stretched out on the couch, his laptop and an impressive collection of papers scattered across the coffee table. Jack sighed to himself as he wandered into the kitchen. Most likely Daniel had worked himself nearly to exhaustion and then simply collapsed where he sat. While part of him was tempted to drag out the "you're pushing yourself too hard" lecture he knew better than to actually give it. Daniel was a grown man. He'd figure it out on his own…or his body would simply shut down from exhaustion and force him to take a day off to sleep. Either way, there was little point in bringing up a topic Daniel would ignore anyway.

Jack began collecting ingredients for a sandwich when he heard a loud moan float out from the den.

"Daniel, you ok?" he asked, pulling his head out of the refrigerator.

When he didn't get a response Jack closed the refrigerator door and went to investigate. He found Daniel facing the back of the couch, his nose and both hands pressed into the fabric as if trying to do a push-up sideways. He was content to let him sleep in the odd position until Daniel began pounding on the back of the couch.

"Let me out!" Came the demand muffled by the cushions.

"Daniel." Jack rested a hand on his shoulder, fully prepared for the moment when Daniel suddenly sprang to life.

Jack knew better than to touch him when Daniel was in the middle of a nightmare. At least not without the ability to jump out of the way when arms started flailing and Daniel exploded into motion. If it was a garden variety bad dream he would simply come awake, wide-eyed and half out of breath. If it was a PTSD night terror, the kind that usually cropped up after a mission had gone all to hell, Daniel would come out swinging, struggling against whatever had invaded his dreams until he was grounded enough in reality to realize there was nothing attacking him.

Jack had no doubt the gentle jostling of his shoulder would wake him. As predicted Daniel was suddenly in motion, Jack jumping out of the way when he spun onto his back and hurled himself off the couch like it was on fire. Jack reached out to steady him when he went crashing into the coffee table, instantly releasing him when Daniel struggled out of his grasp and backed hurriedly across the room, shifting his frantic gaze from Jack to the couch and back again. With Daniel fully awake Jack began the long practiced routine of calmly talking him down from the emotional ledge as he stood gasping and trembling, a look of obvious confusion on his face.

"Where am I?" Daniel rasped.

"Home. You're home. It's ok, Daniel. It was just a dream.

"I was in the sarcophagus. It was…I…"

"No sarcophagus." Jack assured him.

"I was on the ship." Daniel mumbled as he finally began to relax, pouring himself into the nearest chair.

Jack stood watching him, the notion that something was wrong returning full force. Crossing the room Jack rested a hand on Daniel's back and began rubbing in gentle circles, Daniel's face buried in his hands, his body still vibrating under Jack's palm. Night terrors were normal at this stage, but these weren't normal terrors. Daniel didn't usually get trapped in them like this. He didn't come out of them asking where he was. As soon as his eyes were open he knew where he was. It might take a second, but he never had any real trouble figuring out why the scenery had suddenly changed.

The concept of taking him back to the infirmary to be checked out rose to the surface once again and Jack rejected it once again. He might not understand exactly what was different this time, but aside from the abnormally powerful nightmares Daniel was…Daniel. He looked and acted like he always had. If he had been acting loopy all the time that would certainly be a good enough reason to march him off to Brightman, but for this it still seemed like over reacting.

At least he really hoped it was over reacting because as far as he could tell this kind of thing would settle firmly in the realm of Mental Health and that was not a road he wanted to have to walk Daniel down. There would be strenuous arguments, stubborn refusal, blatant reminders that Daniel wasn't military and Jack couldn't make him do anything… Just the thought of it gave Jack a headache, the notion that he might end up in yet another tangle with McKenzie only adding to it. Of course, this time things would be very different since Jack was now the one calling the shots, but still, it was a mess he'd rather avoid if at all possible.

Jack ended up taking a long lunch that day; a very long lunch. In fact, he wouldn't have gone back to the base at all if it hadn't been for a team briefing that he couldn't cancel. SG-10 was scheduled to deploy the next day and he couldn't bring himself to put base business on hold in order to stay home and watch over Daniel, despite the fact that it's exactly what he wanted.

Being The Man didn't have quite as many perks as he'd imagined. Go figure.

In reality it was just as well because Daniel didn't need or want a babysitter. Once he had shaken himself out of the dream and was settled back in the real world he was fine; a little disturbed by the whole thing, but otherwise fine. Jack was just being over protective and he knew it. So by the time 15:00 hours rolled around Jack was kissing him good-bye and heading back to the base, the scenario tumbling around in the back of his mind.

**XxXxXxXx**

_Daniel stood with his bare feet planted on the cold marble floor and glared back at the guard._

"_No, I don't think so." He replied in response to the standard order to follow the Jaffa back to the room with the table._

_He was sick of this. He knew what was coming. They would drag him back to Anubis who would pull some kind of torture device out of this bag of tricks and the whole totally ludicrous scenario would start over again. Well his days of cooperating in any sense of the word were over, he decided, as he stared down the guard. Maybe it would help him burn off a little frustration. Maybe it would just get him shot with a staff weapon and put right back into the sarcophagus when he'd barely gotten out of the thing. There was really no telling. All he knew for certain was he had nothing to lose. If he was going to be trapped in a twisted version of Groundhog Day then he was going to see just how much he could really get away with. Eventually he'd figure out a way to escape if only through trial and error. Eventually._

"_Move!" The man ordered._

"_No."_

"_Move." He repeated, leveling his staff weapon at Daniel's stomach._

_Daniel had never known a Jaffa to bluff and for an instant considered caving in, but the thought of what was to come if he did stopped him. It was either going to be the Jaffa or Anubis. One of them was going to kill him. It might as well be right where he was standing. Daniel stood his ground and glared back at the guard, jaw set, and braced himself as the head of the weapon snapped open._

**XxXxXxXx**

There really was such a thing as having too much drama in one's life. Being career military, constantly surrounded by politics and posturing (both on and off world) Jack would never have suspected such a thing, but there it was. Jack's latest brush with the notion that he might have actually reached his capacity for it came when he was standing in the middle of the grocery store, of all places.

He was wandering down the pasta aisle with Daniel several feet ahead of him when suddenly Daniel stopped moving. Jack glanced at him, glanced at the selection of spaghetti, and by the time he had his hand on a package ready to put it in the cart Daniel was on the floor.

"Daniel!" Jack sprinted toward him, abandoning the half full grocery cart.

By the time Jack reached him he was lying on the floor with both hands over his stomach, gulping for air, his face red, and veins bulging on his neck. Jack knew that look. That was the Daniel in Excruciating Pain look and it was never a good thing.

"Jack." He croaked.

"What happened?"

"He shot me." He replied with a sardonic grimace.

"What? Who shot you? Let me look." Jack grabbed his hands and carefully pulled them away from Daniel's stomach expecting to see blood and was more than a little confused when he didn't.

There was nothing there. Just Daniel's shirt, slightly rumpled, but otherwise in one piece. No blood. No holes. Nothing. What there _was_ was a gathering audience of shoppers who looked just as confused.

It was that exact moment that Jack realized the Big Wrong he'd been putting off dealing with had just reached up and bitten him in the ass. As far as he could tell Daniel was having another nightmare only this time he was wide awake, wandering between shelves of pasta sauce when it happened. How the hell was he supposed to wake someone from a dream when they were already awake?

"Can you sit up?" Jack asked him quietly.

"What?" Daniel asked, looking up at him as if he had truly and completely lost his mind.

"We need to get you out of here. Can you sit up?" Jack elaborated as the store manager came up the aisle.

"Everything alright here, gentlemen?"

"Yeah, he's just a little dizzy. He'll be ok."

"Do you need me to call an ambulance?"

"No, I'm going to get him out to the truck and let him lay down for a bit. Can you, uh, help me?" Jack motioned to Daniel and together he and the manager hefted him up off the floor.

As soon as the manager let go of his arm Daniel's hand went right back to his stomach, his face twisted into a grimace, his other arm still draped securely around Jack's shoulders. Jack thanked the manager and with an arm around Daniel's waist, slowly ushered him out to the truck and into the back seat.

"You ok?" Jack asked.

"Not exactly." Daniel groaned through clenched teeth.

"Crap." Jack groused quietly to himself when he realized that he'd left his jacket stuffed into the kid seat of the grocery cart. "I need you to wait here, ok? I'm going to grab my jacket and I'll be right back."

Daniel nodded with one arm draped over his eyes and a hand still pressed to his stomach. This time Jack really was going to take him back to the infirmary. Maybe it wasn't just a dream. Maybe his appendix had gone haywire again. After all, he'd been resurrected… descended, whatever…with all his body parts intact so it was possible they were going to get to relive that little chapter in his medical history. Wouldn't that be lovely.

Jack snatched his jacket from the cart and strode back out to the truck. However, by the time he got there Daniel was gone. Don't ask him how a man who had supposedly been in excruciating pain two minutes ago had simply walked off. Yes, he knew they were talking about Daniel, but still there were very few things that could have inspired him to move at that point. That was, of course, assuming he had actually, really been awake. He had looked awake and all, but then he'd also been in the grip of some kind of full blown hallucination. What if reality hadn't quite taken hold and he still believed he'd been shot by someone, and that someone was coming back to get him? It would probably be enough to inspire him to prize himself off the backseat and make a run for it.

"Aw hell." Jack muttered as he dug his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and began dialing while ducking down to check under the truck just in case. "T? It's me. Look I need you to meet me at Meyer's grocery…yeah, that one by the house. Daniel's missing and I want to see if we can find him before I call in the cavalry. Bring Carter. I'll meet you in the parking lot."

**XxXxXxXx**

"Ok, so what does this mean?" Jack groused, resisting the urge to scrub at his hair.

They had scoured the parking lot calling Daniel's name and searching in and under every car for nearly an hour before finally admitting defeat. Wherever he was it obviously wasn't there. Reluctantly Jack had headed back to the base and logged into the mainframe in order to access the tracking program as a last resort before calling in the local PD. He would have tried the tracking thingy sooner, but honestly hadn't thought of it. So sue him.

After Carter's kidnapping by an earthbound wacko the SGC had implanted tracking devices on all of its personnel in case anything that completely screwed up ever happened again. Daniel had been reimplanted after returning to human form. If he was on the planet they would find him.

To everyone's surprise the program had whirred away for ten minutes and then informed them that according to satellite intel Daniel was nowhere to be found. It was that grim announcement that led Jack to be standing by the table in Carter's lab scowling at her computer.

"Maybe someone used an Asguard beam on him?" She offered.

"Ok, who?"

She shrugged.

"Perhaps his implant was removed by Nephthys." Teal'c replied.

"It's possible, but why?" Sam asked. "It's not exactly well known that we have them and even if she knew, why would she care?"

"Perhaps to keep us from using an Asguard beam to rescue him."

"Maybe." Sam admitted.

"That's assuming she knows we have such a thing." Jack replied. "For the moment let's assume she doesn't know or care. That means Daniel was either snatched off the planet by a passing Asguard ship or…?"

"What if he isn't Daniel?" Carter offered, grimacing apologetically even as she said it.

"He's Daniel." Jack assured her.

"What if he isn't _our_ Daniel?"

"A clone perhaps." Teal'c offered.

Carter nodded. "We wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Not even with scans or blood tests."

"I do not want to hear that." Jack groaned. "That would mean what? We went through the whole rescue op to bring back a clone? Let's go back to the removing the chip idea."

"It's possible, Sir. I think we have to at least consider it."

"Let's just say for one crazy moment that I'm willing to believe this theory. That means the real Daniel is where?"

"Still on Nephthys' ship."

The hair on the back of Jack's neck was suddenly standing at attention again. There were so many things about that particular theory that he absolutely did not want to believe. First, it would mean he had been sharing his house with a clone; one that looked and acted exactly like the real thing. Ok, well, yeah that was the nature of clones. Still it was creepy.

At the same time, if it really was a clone then what were they going to do with it…him…when the real one came back? While he was on that incredibly unpleasant subject, what about the real Daniel? If Carter was right that meant for the last three weeks while they'd been going merrily about their business Daniel had been stuck on that ship being tortured. They had seen first hand what the woman had done to this apparent clone. She would do at least that to the real thing.

Then there was the issue of the missing clone. He could be hurt. He was most certainly scared and not even remotely in his right mind. How were they going to find him? Jack finally gave in and scrubbed at his hair before ordering Carter to call the local PD and tell them to keep an eye out for him. In the meantime they needed to dig out their rescue op and dust it off because they were apparently going to have to stage a repeat performance.

Damn it all to hell's basement!

Before this was over he was going to give a very loud piece of his mind to the Tok'ra. Politics be damned, this was the last straw.

**XxXxXxXx**

By the time Jack got home it was very early in the morning after an excruciatingly long and completely bizarre day. The local police department was keeping an eye out for Daniel while SG-3 actively scoured the city. So far he was nowhere to be found. Jack, Sam, and Teal'c had spent hours going over the rescue plan looking for something they might have missed the first time. Something that would make the whole thing plausible without having to rely on the Tok'ra. So far they had found a great big fat nothing there either.

Teal'c had sent a message to Brat'ac and Jack had sent a message to the Tok'ra. He'd been nice about it, wording it carefully to make sure none of his boiling-over hostility bled through. He wanted them to show up completely unaware so he could tear them a new one in person, even if the unfortunate person that showed up turned out to be Anise. It certainly wouldn't be the first time her good intentions had completely screwed them. After this he was more than willing to look her in the big, brown eyes and blast her a good one.

Jack dragged himself up the front steps trying to decide if he wanted to eat dinner…though he supposed it would now be breakfast…or just fall into bed. Despite being practically dead on his feet, his black ops training had yet to turn out the lights for the night. Movement in the shadows caught his attention and he stopped with his hand on the door knob.

"Who's there?" he demanded in a tone of voice that left no room for discussion, his free hand going to his personal weapon holstered at the small of his back.

"It's just me." Came a weary reply as Daniel stepped from the shadows.

He looked disheveled and haunted, but seemed to be in one piece, shivering slightly in the cold night air. For a moment Jack wasn't sure what to do. This wasn't really Daniel. Well, it was, it was just…complicated. Very damn complicated. His gut instinct was to keep the clone at arm's length, but one look in its…his face and Jack knew that idea was just wishful thinking. This wasn't a robot double or an alien doing a good imitation. He was Daniel. He acted the way Daniel acted. Knew what Daniel knew. Felt what Daniel felt and by the look on his face he was presently confused and unnerved.

"Come on." Jack opened the front door and ushered him inside. "Are you ok?"

"I don't know." He admitted, obviously a bit too freaked out for his typical "I'm fine" routine.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I just…I don't know what happened." Daniel admitted, still shivering. "We were in the store and then I was on the ship and then…I was wandering around in the dark. Took forever to figure out where I was." He chuckled, the disturbed look in his eyes testament to the fact that there was really nothing funny about it. "What's happening to me, Jack?"

"I'm not all that clear on it, myself," Jack admitted, "but I may know at least some of it." He sighed realizing he was going to have to delve into a topic he could still barely get his head around, and at 03:00 when the only thing he really wanted to do was sleep.

He was way too old for this crap.

Jack led Daniel to the couch and wrapped him up in a blanket before attempting to explain what they had figured out so far. Daniel merely stared back at him blinking. Jack could see the wheels turning, Daniel's face folding into his traditional contemplative scowl.

"I was there." He insisted. "You saw me when Brat'ac brought me back. I was there."

"I know. You just weren't the only one."

"That's impossible. I mean, how can I be a clone? When did it happen?"

"Well, since there was only one of you when you went through the gate with SG14 it had to have happened either on the planet or on the ship." Jack replied, rubbing at his forehead, struggling to make the scenario make sense.

"If it was on the planet then what happened to the _real_ me?" Daniel asked, jiggling his head around the way he always did when he was saying something that sounded completely absurd.

"They either took you both or it was Nephthys that made the clone." Jack concluded. "For the moment I'm going to go with option B since the Tok'ra operative didn't mention seeing two of you, though their intel isn't exactly trustworthy at this point."

"Why would she do that?"

"Who knows. Why do the goa'uld do anything?"

"She had to have a reason, Jack."

"Oh, I don't doubt that." He grimaced.

"She makes a clone and the Tok'ra rescue…me…thinking I'm the original…"

"…as a practical joke?"

"…so you'll stop looking." Daniel finally concluded, the look of dawning comprehension that lit up his face told Jack that finally someone on the team was beginning to understand what the hell had gone wrong. "Think about it. They want me…him…whatever…and they don't want to have to worry about staying one step ahead of a rescue attempt. So they make a clone. They torture me, and according to Brat'ac, stick me in the sarcophagus and…"

"…set up the Tok'ra." Jack said, a light finally beginning to dawn. "They must have known about the operative."

"Or the operative is a double agent." Daniel nodded.

"We'll table that idea for the time being." Jack sighed, unwilling to spend any more time untangling the snarl of exactly what the Tok'ra had and hadn't known when Anise had shown up with her generous offer. "That still leaves us with the unanswered question of how to rescue the real…the other Daniel."

"We'll have the element of surprise this time." Daniel replied. "They won't have any idea we're onto them."

"Which means exactly squat if we don't figure out a plan that works. We wouldn't have been able to pull this off the first time if it weren't for the Tok'ra knowing where the ship was. Without that we're totally blind. This Nyphthys woman just goes sailing off…"

"Anubis."

"What?" Jack asked, suppressing a shudder at the name.

"It's not Nyphthys' plan, it's Anubis'." Daniel informed him. "If Nyphthys is the queen I met when I was on the ship then she's certainly involved, but she didn't plan this."

"No, because Anubis is dead."

"Not any more." Daniel assured him. "Don't ask me how, but he got off the ice planet where we sent him. Probably ascended. Anyway he's using Kull bodies for hosts."

"Kull…as in those big, black, creepy, annoyingly indestructible…?"

"Yeah."

"Well this story just keeps getting better and better."

Jack was a little surprised to just be hearing about it now, weeks after Daniel's rescue, but then Daniel hadn't exactly been eager to talk about what had happened. They knew he'd been tortured and he had apparently been content to leave out the details.

"None of this explains why I keep…losing it." Daniel pointed out, somewhat deflated. "One minute I'm here and the next I'm back on that ship."

"They're just flashbacks, Daniel." Jack soothed.

"They don't feel like flashbacks. They feel…real. I felt it when that Jaffa shot me with the staff weapon. It hurt just like the real thing. I know it sounds crazy, but it was real."

"I don't know, Daniel. I can't explain it." Jack admitted. "But why don't we worry about that in the morning. I don't know about you, but I need some sleep and we have to be back at the base in 4 hours."

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel sat on the hard, marble floor of a holding cell, his tour of the ship apparently having come full circle. He was right back where he'd started.

He had no idea how long he'd been on the Ha'tak. Time had stopped meaning anything several dozen cycles through the sarcophagus ago. The only improvement was to his attitude. Well, at least from his perspective it was an improvement. He had gone from hopeful resignation to willful disobedience to outright hostility. The hostility had worked in his favor to some degree. The times he'd come flying out of the sarcophagus and hurled himself at the Jaffa without warning had at least given him the opportunity to land a few well placed punches. It had also gotten him shot with a staff weapon more than once, but the short reprieve from Anubis had been worth it. He was still looking for an open window in which to attack Anubis himself, but so far hadn't found one.

What he had found was that apparently Anubis had either become bored with the game or had more important things to do because instead of being carted right back up to the room with the table he had been dragged (almost literally) through the ship and tossed in a holding cell. The change of scenery hadn't mattered much to him. Daniel had still been kicking, shoving, and making random lunges at the guards as they struggled to control him.

All he knew was if he was getting off the ship before he went stark raving mad he had to do it soon. At the moment he was without a guard and without restraints so it seemed the perfect opportunity.

He'd been mulling the idea over for the last few trips to the torture room. As he'd learned the first time, escape from his cell still left him visible so whatever he was going to do he had to do it quickly before they figured out he was gone and came to get him. His only chance was the rings. His knowledge of the layout of the ship was still limited since he'd seen very little of it, but he was fairly certain the glider bay was somewhere on a lower deck. He could sneak down to it, steal a glider and be on his way.

Ok, yes, there were definite holes in the plan. How did he find the gliders before he got caught and lost his chance of escape for 20 or 30 more torture sessions? Once he found them how did he fly them? Sure, he'd seen Jack do it, but he hadn't exactly been paying riveted attention. Assuming he got to the glider and got off the ship how did he get back to Earth when he had no idea where in the universe he was? And while he was asking questions that he didn't have answers to…how was he going to keep from getting shot down by other gliders if Anubis decided to send someone after him? He would be the first to admit it wasn't anywhere near a perfect plan, but it was all he had.

Casting a glance at the door he stood on the molded marble slab that usually served as a bench and tugged at the air vent grating. Experience had taught him that these typically led to freedom. The fact that Anubis didn't know Daniel knew that was a definite bonus. As expected, the grating came free and he hefted himself up through the opening before putting the grating back in place, leaving them to guess how he'd escaped. The longer he kept that trick a secret the better.

Sprinting quietly in his bare feet, he headed for the ring transporter. He slapped at the buttons, hitting them in a sequence that would send him down to one of the lower decks rather than depositing him outside in the middle of nowhere. Deftly hopping into the center of the circle he disappeared with a flash of light and the hum of the rings.

**XxXxXxXx**

"General O'Neill to the infirmary."

The announcement brought Jack's head up. He didn't really want to know what this was about, whatever it was. Slapping his pen down on the desk, he pushed back in his chair and headed for the door intending to make a detour through the control room to see Harriman. Walter knew pretty much everything that happened on that base. He might just know this, which meant Jack could get a mini briefing before he walked down to the infirmary rather than being completely blindsided.

Had he mentioned that he didn't really what to know what it was about?

Carter was running simulations trying to determine at least a plausible location of Nephthys ship since the last time they had had a definite location three weeks ago. Teal'c was off running simulations in his head for possible rescue scenarios that didn't involve having help from the inside. Daniel was in his office going through everything they had on both Nephthys and Anubis hoping to come up with something in the way of a stronghold, home world, latest known address, anything. Jack was taking care of paperwork and trying not to think about the whole clone mess any more than he absolutely had to. That meant that whatever this was it wasn't vitally important; at least he really hoped not because he had more than enough to deal with already.

"Walter, you know anything about this?" Jack asked hopefully as he strode up to the control panel.

"No, Sir. No idea."

"I'm disappointed, Sergeant." Jack replied, trying to look somber. "Your radar must be down."

"Yes, Sir."

"Get that looked at." Jack commanded as he headed down the stairs and out into the hall.

"Yes, Sir." Harriman replied with a smirk and a shake of his head as he turned back to the consol.

Sighing to himself and in no hurry to get there, Jack strolled down the hall exchanging greetings as he went. "Ok, what's the big to-do?" he asked of no one in particular as he finally stepping into the main infirmary.

"It's Doctor Jackson." Doctor Brightman informed him.

No, that couldn't be what he heard because Daniel was in his office trying to figure out where he…the real Daniel…whatever…had gone.

"Say that again?" Jack asked.

"He was brought in ten minutes ago complaining of pain and appeared to be confused about his surroundings. I took x-rays, but I don't see that anything is broken. I gave him a mild sedative and drew some blood, but at this point I don't know what else to do. I can't find anything wrong with him."

"Where is he?"

"Over there." She pointed to a bed at the far end of the infirmary with the curtain drawn.

"Thanks."

He strode over to the bed and peeked around the curtain to find Daniel stretched out on the gurney still fully clothed, though his shirt had been untucked and his feet were bare.

"What happened?" Jack asked, fairly certain he already knew the answer.

"I don't know." Daniel admitted with a heavy sigh before closing his eyes and pinching at the bridge of his nose the way he always did when he was working on a headache. "I was in my office and then…I wasn't."

"The ship?" Jack asked, settling beside him on the bed.

"Not this time. It was a smaller ship. It looked like a glider. There were trees and the ground was coming up really fast… I must have hit it because it hurt everywhere. It felt like I was on fire." He added, finally opening his eyes. "It was just like being shot by that Jaffa. If the pain wasn't real, Jack, I couldn't tell."

Up to that point Jack had been working on the assumption that Daniel was simply having flashbacks from his time on the ship. He'd been willing to chalk the vivid imagery up to the fact that he was a clone. Maybe there was something haywire in his brain. Who knows, but this…this was different. There hadn't been a crash. Daniel hadn't been in a glider. Well, he _had_, years ago, but not one that had crashed. So either he was now having very vivid nightmares when he was wide awake about things that had never actually happened or something else was going on. Don't ask him what because he had absolutely no idea. All he could say was he was glad Daniel was already on base so he didn't have to bother loading him into the truck.

Jack's only thought at that point was to take the mess to Carter and Teal'c and see if either of them could make sense of it. They had a growing pile of stuff that didn't make any sense. Maybe if they kept adding pieces something would finally click. He had intended to leave Daniel right where he was, but as always Daniel was having none of it. Spending more time in the infirmary when there was apparently nothing physically wrong with him was totally out of the question. Jack had started to argue, but had given up the attempt when Daniel simply got off the gurney and grabbed his boots. Sedative be damned.

Yeah, it was no wonder he couldn't tell the difference between the real thing and the clone.

Daniel had followed him to Carter's office where the two of them had begun explaining the odd situation. That part actually made sense as far as Jack was concerned. Of course they would have a totally bizarre occurrence happening within a completely bizarre situation. Jack would have gone into more detail about the night terror thing earlier if he'd had any idea that it might have been relevant. To be honest, he still wasn't sure it fit anywhere, but it was getting out of hand and he needed to find a solution or at least an explanation.

"When did it start?" Carter asked.

"Pretty much the day Brat'ac brought him back." Jack replied.

"And the dreams have always been on the ship before now?"

"Yeah." Daniel answered.

"Was it stuff you actually remembered happening?"

"No, I mean, I don't think so. It's hard to tell what's a memory and what's a dream any more."

"But this definitely wasn't." Jack supplied, as Carter reached over and rubbed Daniel's back. "Any idea what it means?"

"Well, if we're assuming it's not some kind of hallucination then…"

"What?" Jack prodded.

"It's going to sound strange and don't ask me how it works because I have no idea, but…what if he's somehow connecting to our…the other Daniel on the ship?"

The small group stood in silence for a moment contemplating the idea.

"Is that actually possible?" Daniel asked.

"I have no idea, but it could explain why this is happening."

"Have you ever heard of something like that?" Jack asked Teal'c.

"I have not. However, I am not entirely familiar with clones."

"Join the club." Carter replied.

"So that would mean there's some kind of psychic connection?" Daniel asked.

"It might. It sounds like you only see things when you're…he's in trouble so maybe it only happens when the other you is in a heightened emotional state."

"Like terror." Daniel replied.

"Ok, let's say that's what's happening." Jack commented. "How does this help us?"

"Well, if it's happening real time and he can see what the other Daniel sees then I guess it means he's no longer on the ship." Carter said. "He apparently found a way to escape."

"That is, if that's really what's happening." Jack said.

"Right."

"So that means we just need to look for a planet with trees." Daniel supplied. "Yeah, that's better."

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel floated toward consciousness and immediately regretted it. He hurt…everywhere. He never thought he would actually think such a thing, but he found himself hoping they would put him in the sarcophagus soon and turn his body's screaming down to something more manageable…or off. Off was good. Things were broken. Things were bleeding. It hurt to even breathe. Yeah, off would be very good.

The feeling of something cold and damp being gently pressed to his forehead made him flinch. Something was obviously different this time around. Curiosity pulled him awake and he struggled to open his eyes. Briefly the world swam into view before his eyelids slid closed again. In that glimpse he saw olive skin, long dark hair, deep brown eyes, a tender smile.

"Shau'ri." He croaked before drifting back to unconsciousness, confusion and pain tumbling in his head.

**XxXxXxXx**

Aesa dipped the cloth in water and wrung it out again before running it gently down the stranger's unbandaged forearm. Men from the village had found him in the woods while setting off to trade with those in the villages across the sea. Despite the threat of missing the favorable winds they had carried him back before setting out again.

Aesa had gladly taken him in seeing that she had no husband to care for, Hvatr having been taken by the sea several seasons ago. She was happy to help. It gave her something to do. It often fell to her to nurse the weak and sick of the village and she saw no reason to make exceptions for strangers. He needed help. She would help.

Of course, this was no ordinary illness. He was badly hurt and despite Nafni's many visits to set his bones, give him medicine for the pain, and apply runes to heal him, he did not wake. No, that was not quite true. He had awakened once for only a moment; long enough to mumble something she did not understand and then fall back to sleep.

Nafni was concerned he would eventually succumb to his injuries and the fever that had begun to burn in him. It had been many, many seasons since she had seen someone so gravely wounded that still drew breath, but while it was true, Nafni was a wise and experienced healer, Aesa saw something in this stranger from the wilderness. He was strong. She had seen it in the brief glimpse of his eyes; eyes the color of a cloudless sky. He would feel pain for many days, but he would live.

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel woke slowly, bits and pieces of memory sliding around in his head. He could say with all honesty he had no idea where he was. There were sounds: feet on gravel, quiet voices drifting nearby, a woman humming softly, but none of them made any sense. Certainly not when the last thing he remembered with any clarity was Anubis. Obviously he wasn't still on the ship, or at least not any part of it he had seen before. He also wasn't in the infirmary. Other than that, he had no clue.

As he struggled to make his mind work he realized he really knew only two things at that point: he hurt and he was warm. Not hot exactly, but pleasantly warm. Ok, he was also really, really tired. That was…three things, or at least he thought that was three. It was hard to think. He was losing track of where he was on the list.

For a moment he let his mind wander, trying to decide whether or not he really cared where he was. Nobody was bothering him. Judging by the quiet humming of the woman somewhere nearby there most likely weren't any system lords in the room. Maybe he would just go back to sleep and think about it later.

Daniel let go of the tentative hold he had on his thoughts and felt them drift away. It was a single concept that floating into his head and stuck like a balloon caught in a tree that made him change his mind. Shau'ri. He'd seen her. Hadn't he? He was almost sure of it. Maybe not. One way or the other, he realized he really wanted the answer.

"Shau'ri?" He called, his voice a gravely croak.

The humming stopped. In its place he heard the soft rustle of clothes and the dripping of water an instant before something cool was pressed against his forehead. Encouraged by the fact that someone had just settled beside him on the bed he worked to open his eyes. Several slow blinks later the room swam into view and he was indeed greeted by olive skin, long dark hair, deep brown eyes, and a tender smile. The face, however, was that of a stranger. The disappointment was instantaneous, but not deep. Somehow he knew it hadn't really been her.

"Where am I?" he asked in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

It still hurt to breathe.

"No harm will come to you here." The woman replied, a hand rested gently on his shoulder. "I am Aesa."

"Daniel." He nodded minutely.

"You were badly injured, Daniel." She informed him. "The men of the village found you in the woods three days hence."

He nodded. So not still on the ship. He knew that. Bits and pieces of his escape floated into his mind, but he was too tired to sort them out. The brief conversation would have to do for the time being because he simply didn't have the energy to ask anything else, let alone figure out what to ask in the first place.

"Thank you." He murmured and closed his eyes.

**XxXxXxXx**

"I assure you, we did not know, General." Anise insisted as Jack glared at her. "If we had I would have told you."

Jack was fairly certain he didn't believe a word of it. Lucky for her it had been more than three weeks since he had sent word that he wanted a meeting. He'd worked himself into and out of a snit several times since then. The only thing keeping him from giving her the tongue lashing she so richly deserved was the fact that they were fairly certain Daniel had managed to escape. Finding him was no less a needle in a haystack search than it had been, but for the time being it was enough that Daniel was no longer looking at daily torture sessions at the hands of the goa'uld. At least, they didn't think so. They were almost sure. They really hoped not.

Finding Daniel was his number one priority and would continue to be until they brought him home, but Jack wasn't about to ask the Tok'ra for help with that. They were more harm than good lately and he intended to keep them as far away from SGC operations as he could for the near future…and as far into the distant future as humanly possible. Whoever took over this lousy job when Jack finally threw in the towel would find a lengthy discourse in the top drawer of the desk on just how many ways the Tok'ra had screwed them over the past eight years. That would be followed by a recommendation to approach them with extreme caution and only in a dire emergency. And he did mean DIRE.

It was cold. It was short sighted. It was not even remotely politically correct, but with the exception of Jacob Carter, in Jack's eyes a goa'uld was a goa'uld. Case closed.

"We have reason to believe our operative was unaware he had been detected."

"Really." Jack snorted back.

"If this deception is true…"

"Trust me, it is."

"…then obviously Anubis went to great pains to hide it from us."

"See, that right there is why I don't believe a word you're saying." Jack replied.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You said 'Anubis'."

"Yes. He was the one that orchestrated the capture."

"When you came to me two months ago with this song and dance you never mentioned Anubis." He pointed out. "In fact, we didn't find out he was even involved until Daniel's clone told us, himself."

"We did not think it was relevant."

"You didn't…" Jack gaped, jaw clenched as he clamped down on a tirade that was definitely not befitting an officer. "You want to know what I think?" He asked when he had managed to reign in his temper. "I think you knew all along and you lied to us. I have no idea why, but I think you strolled in here, handed us yet another phony load of crap about wanting to re-establish relations and flat out lied."

"General, I assure you we did not withhold any pertinent information." She replied. "We did not uncover the deception ourselves until the body of our operative was discovered and we realized Anubis must have known and used it to his advantage."

"How unlike him." Jack replied.

"Perhaps we should have suspected, but…"

"But at the same time, once you knew what had happened you didn't see any reason to come running over here and tell us about it either." Jack interrupted."

"It was never our intention to deceive you."

"Oh please, it's been your intention to deceive us since the day we met. Now, while I would love to sit here and discuss…at length…the many different ways you have royally screwed us over the years," Jack said, holding up a hand to forestall her response as he stood up from his chair "Daniel is still out there somewhere and we're a little busy trying to track him down. So if you don't mind."

"General, I…"

"And you can take this back to your friends at the High Council." He added, fists pressed into the table and a menacing grimace on his face. "The next time one of you attempts to set foot on this base you had better think twice before assuming I'm going to give the order to open that iris."

Anise stared back at him, stunned to silence.

"Airman, send her back where she came from." He ordered before marching from the room.

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel stepped from the modest shelter he had been calling home for the past three months and stretched in the morning sun. Today was the day. He had been eager to get back on his feet and get to the stargate since the day he had found out they had one. In fact, he would have left several weeks ago were it not for Aesa's insistence that he regain more of his strength. He wasn't fully healed at that point, the gate was three days' journey, and once he got to another planet he would need to be strong enough to look after himself until he could get back to Earth.

She was a smart woman.

It was pure luck that he'd crash landed on a planet with a gate. He couldn't take any credit for that because it certainly hadn't been part of the plan. Well, actually the crash hadn't been part of the plan either. The plan, if it could be called such a thing, was to get off the Hat'ak and fly around until he could figure out how to work the glider's navigational computer. Unfortunately, something had gone wrong with the glider. He still had no idea what. Maybe just a malfunction. Maybe he'd pushed the wrong button. All he knew was alarms had started going off, lights had started flashing and the controls had been distinctly unwilling to follow his commands. By the time he'd gotten close enough to the planet's surface to see the expanse of trees he'd been sure he was a dead man. If it hadn't been for the villagers setting out for a season of trading at the same time he probably would have been. Busted ribs, a broken foot, burns, gashes, you name it, he had it. There was no way he would have survived without help.

It was the broken foot that had kept him in the village for so long. He could walk on it, but not far and not for long. Nafni, the village healer, had made him a cane, but even with that he was far from ready for all-terrain marches across the planet. Thankfully, a group of the traders had returned and offered to lend him a horse and a guide. If he had actually been forced to walk the entire distance to the gate he would probably have had to wait another three months. Either that or walk a quarter mile a day with several days' rest in between. Either way, it would be a long time before he saw the gate.

It wasn't that he was eager to leave. The villagers had gladly adopted him as their own, treating him like one of the clan. They were simple people with a simple life and if the truth be told, being stranded there with them would not be something he would consider a tragedy. It was the thought of the rest of his team that had him itching to find a way back to Earth.

Daniel had no idea how long he'd been on Anubis' ship. It could have been a couple of weeks. It could have been a couple of months. He honestly had no clue, but he knew how long he had been on Aesa's planet. Between the Hat'ak and the planet he'd been gone from Earth for probably close to four months…give or take. That was month after month of his friends having no contact with him and no idea if he was still alive. They were looking for him. He knew that much, if for no other reason than Jack would never give up the search. It might have to take a lesser priority than other things, but he would never stop. He'd told Daniel as much after his return from being ascended.

Four times Jack had given Daniel up for dead. Twice it had seemed an obvious conclusion. Ra had shot him with a staff weapon at point blank range. Jack had seen the smoking wound with his own eyes. Radiation poisoning had left him a bleeding mass of disintegrating tissue. He had coded in the infirmary and then simply floated away. Jack had seen that with his own eyes, too. At the time Jack had considered him an official corpse, but all four times he'd come back from the dead one way or another. As Jack had said…he was slow, but he wasn't completely clueless. Daniel ascending was the last time he was going to consider him dead and buried. From that point on he would flat out refuse to accept it.

Daniel knew Jack was true to his word. He would never give up the belief that he was still alive. However, the lack of information one way or the other was probably killing him. Jack imagining that he was still on the Hat'ak being tortured would be worse. Then there was Sam. Jack was much better at being bull headed than she was. Sam would morn the loss long before Jack would ever admit there was such a thing. Daniel needed her to know he was alright.

In order to do that he had to get Earth a message. He didn't have a radio so he couldn't just open the gate on his current planet and send one and yelling into the wormhole wouldn't do any good at all. He also couldn't just step through to Earth and deliver it in person because like his radio, his GDO was back on the Hat'ak with Anubis. He didn't want his last official message to his friends to be the sound of him splattering against the iris. That meant he had to find a planet where the SGC had a presence, an ally, or was planning to visit. He'd considered and rejected a dozen ideas in the past few days before deciding the continuing naquadah mining operation on P3X-403 was his safest bet. Not only could they send a message back to the SGC, they could send him.

"I see you're ready to set out." A trader named Baror called as he strode down the path with a very sturdy looking horse in tow, interrupting Daniel's thoughts.

"Yeah. I just need to say good-bye to Aesa." He replied. "Just one horse?"

"It should be all we need. We do not require many supplies for such a short journey." His voluntary guide replied.

"Right."

Daniel had been thinking they would each have a horse, but he'd forgotten that in this culture the men rarely rode. Horses were in short supply so they used them mainly for labor: hauling supplies to the ships for trading, pulling plows, etc. Only the young, old, and weak or badly injured rode. As much as he hated the idea of riding comfortably on a horse while Baror walked he knew the man would find it humiliating to be seen riding like a child. He'd sooner be found down at the river washing clothes with the women.

"Baror is here?" Aesa said the instant Daniel ducked back inside.

"Yes."

"Then you had best be going. Here is food for the journey and medicine for the pain if you need it." She said, handing him an animal skin bag.

"Thank you…for everything." Daniel replied, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I owe you my life."

"Such things you say, Daniel." She blushed. "It is the gods that have spared your life, not me."

"I know…'you are but a humble woman'." He said, repeating a phrase he had heard her use several times. "Still, you'll forgive me if I give you a little credit."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and stepped back outside, walking gingerly on his injured foot. "Tell Nafni I said 'thank you', too."

"I will. Travel safely." She replied from the door of her house built with a combination of logs, stones, and animal skins.

She watched as he climbed onto the horse and settled against the supplies that had been tied to its back. Aesa continued waving until he was out of sight.

**XxXxXxXx**

"Unauthorized off-world activation." Harriman's voice came ringing through the halls and Jack headed for the nearest phone, snatching it off the wall in the hall near Teal'c's quarters.

"Who is it?"

"SG-18's IDC, Sir." Walter replied.

"Aren't they on duty at the mine?"

"Yes, Sir. They're not due for a check-in for six hours."

"Ok. Open the iris. I'll be right there."

Jack hung up the phone and changed directions, heading for the gate room. He sincerely hoped this wasn't another case of someone being injured because they went and did something stupid and got smacked down by an Unas. It certainly wouldn't be the first time, but he was growing tired of giving the "let's all just get along" speech. One more of these and he was going to consider writing people up for it. It pissed off the Unas, it caused delays in the mining op, and it gave the IOA more ammunition for their "these are dangerous creates that should be controlled, not recruited for a joint operation" tirade. Jack was tired of that one, too.

Jack heard the wormhole disengage as he stepped into the gate room with a half prepared lecture floating around in his head. What he saw stopped him in his tracks, the scowl on his face transforming instantly to a grin. Standing on the ramp was a slightly disheveled, but easily recognizable version of Dr. Jackson. He was wearing BDU pants, a very rustic looking brown shirt that was at least a size too big for him, and a heavy beard, but it was definitely Daniel.

"You never cease to amaze me." Jack shook his head and strode up the ramp before enveloping Daniel in a hug, one of the few forms of affection they could get away with on base. "Welcome back."

"Glad to be back." Daniel replied with a matching grin.

"Come on. Let's let the doc check you out and then you can tell me what the hell happened _this_ time."

Jack let go of him and tried to usher him out of the room with a hand on the back of his neck. It was then that he noticed the limp and the foot wrapped in animal skins.

"What happened?"

"Crashed a glider." Daniel shrugged, Jack's eyebrows sliding up several notches on his forehead.

"When did you learn how to fly those?"

"Oh, I didn't. That's, uh, probably why I crashed."

"Right."

Jack waited as patiently as he could while Daniel changed into scrubs and was poked, prodded, x-rayed, and drained of several vials of blood. Seeing no reason to hold his tongue while Daniel was removing several weeks' growth from his face, Jack coaxed the details of the story out of him while he shaved. One thing was obvious from his retelling: Daniel had no idea Anubis had made a clone. In fact, he was completely unaware they had even tried to rescue him. Boy was he in for a surprise.

Jack stood in the doorway of the cramped infirmary bathroom, watching Daniel shave and listening with half an ear to the tale of his rehabilitation after the crash. He honestly had no idea how to tell him that they were all thrilled to see him in one piece, but he hadn't been missed around the SGC quite as much as he might have imagined. His stand-in had done a bang up job of keeping them from missing him, too much. Well, most of them, anyway.

He supposed there was really no easy way to break the news so Jack decided if it had to be done he was going to do it all at once. Getting reluctant permission from Dr. Brightman and paging Carter and Teal'c, he ushered Daniel slowly to his office. It would have been "rolled him quickly to his office", but Daniel hated wheelchairs and had flat out refused to ride, preferring to limp slowly on his bad foot.

Once upon a time Janet would have made him put his butt in the chair. She was always good at strong-arming Daniel into doing things he didn't want to do; things no one else could make him do. But those days were gone. Daniel said "no", got that "you can't make me" glint in his eye and that was pretty much the end of it. As a result, the rest of the crew was already gathered in his office when he and Jack arrived.

Daniel zeroed in on Carter and gave her a hug, giving a nod to a very pleased looking Teal'c and then stopped cold when he saw the person sitting behind his desk.

"Uh, Jack?"

"I didn't know how to tell you, Daniel, so I thought I'd just show you."

"I know this must be confusing." The clone said, slowly getting up from behind the desk. "I take it you didn't know Anubis cloned you."

"No." Daniel replied, his gaze shifting briefly from his twin to Jack and back again. "So you didn't even know I was still on the ship." Daniel concluded, looking like someone had just proven that his most treasured ancient artifact was made of Playdough.

The disappointment and confusion on his face was unmistakable. For his part, the doppelganger behind the desk looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"We knew." Jack replied. "We just couldn't figure out how to get to you."

"Brat'ac and the Tok'ra staged a rescue." The clone explained. "It worked, but they ended up pulling me out of the sarcophagus thinking it was you."

"Once we found out what had happened we tried to go back to get you, but without the Tok'ra operative telling us where you were we didn't know how to find you again." Carter added.

Jack could see the wheels turning in Daniel's mind as he stood in stunned silence. The fact that he couldn't figure out what to say was testament to the fact that the revelation had rocked him right down to his shoes. Normally Daniel always had something to say even if it was only a snarky comment, but this whole mess was far from normal.

"I'm sorry, Daniel." Carter added, giving his arm a gentle squeeze.

"No, no, it's, uh, it's ok." He replied.

"We would never intentionally leave you behind, DanielJackson." Teal'c added.

"No, I know. I just need a minute, to, uh, think about this."

"Why don't we move this to the conference room?" Jack suggested. "We can debrief in half an hour."

Carter gave Daniel another squeeze on the way out, she and Teal'c leaving Jack and his twin Daniels alone in the room.

"I'm sorry." Jack said quietly, squeezing Daniel's shoulder.

"It's not your fault."

"I'm sorry anyway."

"I think I'm going to just go back to the infirmary and lie down for a minute." He finally said. "I'm, uh, I'm a little tired."

"Want me to walk you back?"

"No, I'm fine." He said, the arms wrapped around himself saying otherwise, but Jack agreed to let him go.

It was a hell of a lot to take in. After everything he'd been through, half of which he probably hadn't mentioned yet, Daniel comes home to find he's been replaced. It wasn't true; not really, but Jack knew he saw it that way. Jack sighed heavily and scrubbed at his hair. He hated this. He really truly hated this.

"He'll be ok." The clone stated quietly.

"At least until he figures out that you two have to decide, which one is staying." Jack replied. "Assuming he hasn't already."

"Right." The clone said, arms going around his middle in the same gesture his twin had been wearing.

Really…he hated this. Jack had already had the "what happens when the original Daniel" comes back discussion with the clone months ago when the nightmare first came to light. They hadn't come up with much of an answer then and weren't any closer to one now. In the end it was going to be decided by both Daniels sitting down in a room together and figuring out who went and who stayed. All Jack knew was one of them would be agreeing to give up their career and their relationship with him and the thought that either Daniel would have to make that much of a sacrifice killed him.

He really hated this. It was Harlan and the damned robots all over again.

**XxXxXxXx**

Daniel stood at the bottom of the ramp with his hands in his pockets looking distinctly unhappy. Carter and Teal'c were saying their heartfelt good-byes to a man they cared about deeply while his identical twin stood by watching. It was a scene so incredibly bizarre Jack sincerely hoped never to have to relive it. He was tired of having doubles of his team floating around. They cropped up now and then, but it never got any easier to deal with. This time was certainly no exception. If anything it was harder. Both men had memories of exactly the same life. Both men had attachments to exactly the same people. It was…well it was quite simply messed up.

Daniel removed one hand from his pocket long enough to shake the clone's outstretched one.

"Take care of yourself." The clone said.

"You, too." Daniel nodded. "You know I'm not ok with this."

"I know." The clone gave a sad smile. "If you were I probably wouldn't be doing it."

"If you need anything…"

"I'll call you." The clone replied. "Same to you."

"Keep in touch. Tell me everything." Daniel said.

"I will."

Daniel watched as the clone turned, gave a final wave and headed through the stargate with a duffle full of clothes and a pack full of books and equipment. The wormhole disengaged and the room slowly emptied leaving Daniel standing alone at the end of the ramp, hands back in his pockets, and the same miserable expression on his face, Jack standing in the doorway silently watching him.

Jack knew what he was thinking. They'd been over it…and over it. No, it wasn't fair that the clone had to give up his home and his friends just because he happened to be the clone. No, it wasn't right that one of them had to suffer a broken heart just to rebalance the SGC. It was supremely unfair that one of them couldn't just go back to Abydos where this had all began and live out the rest of their life in peace with their adopted people.

In the end, one of them had willingly chosen to make the sacrifice just like Jack knew they would. After all, they were both Daniel and Daniel just did things like that. The clone had decided that it wasn't right to simply step in and edge the original Daniel out of his own life. After all, he was the copy even if he had never chosen to be. Daniel had protested, insisting there was a way to make it work without one of them having to leave, but in the end the notion had been tossed aside due to one tiny little issue…Jack.

If they were going to exist together at the base one of them was going to have to step aside and let the other one continue the relationship with Jack while the first one tried to forget it existed. The alternative was the stuff porn movies were made of and honestly only worked on paper. First of all, Jack was not even remotely interested in a three-way; not even once just for the novelty. Second, having one Daniel in his life long-term was all they could reasonably expect him to handle. Two was out of the question. He simply didn't have that much patience. He didn't have to say it, they knew. With that said it had brought them right back around to the original discussion of who stayed and who moved on with their life.

To make the arrangement more livable and hopefully more enticing to at least one of them, Jack had finally relented on his "absolutely no way, no how are you going to be transferring to Atlantis so just put it out of your head" stance. Considering what he was asking one of them to do Jack thought it was only fair. One stayed, one went to Atlantis. I did in fact make the deal more palatable to the one that had left. The clone was upset, but excited. Jack had no doubt he'd settle in and be happy as a clam in no time.

The one that stayed behind however, was having a tough time with it; all of it. It wasn't that he wanted to have it both ways: have his life back and get to go to Atlantis. Daniel wasn't like that. It was that he didn't want it to have to happen at all. He knew intimately what his clone was feeling; that despite his brave face it was killing him.

Jack crossed the room and gave Daniel's shoulder a squeeze.

"He'll be ok."

"I know." Daniel replied quietly.

"I know you hate this."

"It's not right." He grumbled, pulling his hands out of his pockets and folding his arms tightly across his chest before heading slowly toward the door.

"I know." Jack nodded, following beside him. "You feel guilty that you get to stay behind and he doesn't."

Daniel looked at him with an expression somewhere between shock and suspicion.

"He told me you would." Jack admitted. "And he said part of you probably thinks you should have stayed back on the planet with that Aesa woman and not come home at all since we were doing just fine without you."

Daniel dropped his gaze back to the floor. "Anything else?" He asked quietly, as he wandered down the hall.

"Yeah, he said to tell you he'll send for the fish when he gets settled in."

Daniel nodded.

"I'm kidding." Jack admitted. "Well, about the fish anyway. The rest is true. You know me. I'm not anywhere near that insightful even on my best day.

Jack followed him as they wandered the halls eventually ending up in Daniel's office. Daniel stopped just inside the door and let out a sigh that seemed to work its way up from his feet.

"You're wrong about not coming home." Jack admitted, hands in his pockets. "I knew he wasn't really you. Yes, he's an awful lot like you….but it's not the same." Jack ducked his head for a second and lowered his voice. "I was there for him when he needed it, but he slept on base the whole time. I just…I couldn't pretend things were the same. Not when I knew you were still out there somewhere."

Daniel looked over at him.

"Deep inside I knew he was just a copy and I don't want a copy. I want the real thing."

Daniel nodded at the floor, stuffed his hands in his pockets before whipping them right back out and folding his arms across his chest again.

"You might not think it matters which one of you was here, but it matters to me and I know it wouldn't be fair, but I swear, Daniel, if you had been the one that decided to leave I would have stopped you."

Daniel looked over at him again, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, I know. It's selfish and would officially make me a jackass, but there it is. And don't ask me what kind of deal I would have made to get you to stay because I hadn't thought that far ahead yet."

"You think you could have stopped me?" He asked. "I mean, there's not a whole lot you could offer that would top Atlantis."

"I'll assume you're not including the continued relationship with the person standing beside you?"

"You know what I mean."

"I would have found a way." Jack assured him.

"Really." Daniel challenged.

"If worst came to worst there's always the brig."

"You'd arrest me." Daniel replied sounding unconvinced.

"I might have."

"And tell Sam and Teal'c what?"

"I'd make something up."

"Like?"

"Oh I don't know. How about 2,700 counts of insubordination? Or maybe 6,500 counts of blatant refusal to follow orders?"

"Except I'm a civilian." Daniel smirked.

"Yeah, well, like I said, I hadn't thought that far ahead yet."

"I can see that."

"It was a decent plan, though." Jack insisted.

"Ehh…" Daniel shrugged.

"Ok, then if you were me what would you have done?"

"Not that."

"Then what?"

"Probably better if I don't tell you."

"Why?"

"Let's just say there are some things you don't want to know." Daniel replied, turning toward the door. "I'm going to go get some coffee. You want some?"

"Meaning?" Jack asked following him back into the hall.

"Nothing ." Daniel replied.

"You know that's going to bug the hell out of me."

"Yep."

"And yet you don't really care." Jack sighed.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that."

"Then tell me."

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"I think we already covered that." Daniel said, hitting the button for the elevator.

"Daniel, I swear, sometimes you're more of a pain in the ass than you're worth."

"Well, I guess you could always send me to Atlantis for a few weeks. You know, just to get me out of your hair."

"Do _not_ start with that." Jack groaned as the elevator doors closed.

Fin!


End file.
